News In Focus
21 February 2007
Parliament's final bill comes to £414m
A report to MSPs into the costs of the Scottish Parliament building has put the final bill at £414.4 million.
The report shows that the building cost some £16m less than the previously published projection of £431 million. The building was originally predicted to cost between £10 million and £40 million.
George Reid, presiding officer, said that the contractors will not be sued over the delays that dogged the building’s construction, but legal action will be taken to recover the costs of a broken beam in the main chamber which forced its closure last spring.
The building was finally completed in 2004, three years late. The total cost published today breaks down into £280 million in construction costs, £80 million in site organisation, staff and consultants, £5-£6 million to acquire the site and £48.5 million in VAT.
Mr Reid said the announcements of the final costs should draw a line under the whole episode, though ministers would still pursue what they could to get back for the public purse.
An inquiry under the Conservative peer Lord Fraser found that everyone involved – consultants, contractors, MSPs and staff – could have done better, but that no single party was to blame for the overrun.