George Foulkes slams Parliament as 'most useless'

Published on Saturday 31 October 2009 10:19

THE Scottish Parliament building has cost taxpayers more than £9 million since it opened five years ago.

Official figures show that the bill includes 456,000 for window cleaning and 238,000 for landscaping.

And today Lothians Labour MSP George Foulkes said the Holyrood parliament – which cost 414m to build – was "not only the most expensive building I know, but also the most useless".

He described the design by the late Enric Miralles as "perverse", making the windows virtually impossible to clean.

He said: "It's almost as if they were designed to make them difficult to clean. Every window is either high up or has something in front of it or it's an awkward shape or it slopes. I've never seen a less practical building in every way."

He said the Garden Lobby was the only area in the building which could be used for large events, yet it was also the thoroughfare from one side of the parliament complex to the other.

"I've used all sorts of buildings over the years, but I've never come across one so expensive and yet so inconvenient," said Mr Foulkes.

"Edinburgh City Chambers, the House of Commons and House of Lords all have large meeting rooms."