THE HOLYROOD INQUIRY

The Holyrood Inquiry

Introduction1

Discussion1

Construction Issues1

Management of the Project1

Design Selection2

Site Brief to Users2

Construction Management2

Appointment of Construction Manager3

The Architectural Joint Venture3

Impacts of the issues on the construction industry4

Poor Procurement Practices4

Poor Management of Contractors4

Capability of Managing Risks4

Facilitating the Communities as an Iconic Building5

The Aftermaths of 9/11 Attack5

Conclusion5

References7

The Holyrood Inquiry

Introduction

The Holy-rood project refers to the construction of the Scottish parliament building. It proceeded from the initial stages in May 1997 to the final in October 2004 with its royal opening by Queen Elizabeth II. This project had become over budget and had met various issues in the duration of its completion. All the emphasis was given on the quality and the time management for the new parliament building while the cost analysis was of lowest concern. The Holy-rood site was selected finally because of its central-city location, historical importance among various sites proposals; thus enhancing the chances of development of Scotland's future (White & Sidhu, 2005 pp. 1-6).

Discussion

The Scottish parliament was and is still a significant sign for Scotland. It is expected to be of the best quality, durability as well as representing the national importance. However, this national iconic project had turned into an extremely expensive and a politically embarrassed project. The basic but enormous issues were of time delay, cost rise and quality factor in its completion. It was estimated to be completed in £40m, but it had expensed up to £430m in its construction (www.ukessays.com).

Construction Issues

While constructing the Scottish parliament building, the quality was of the utmost priority. This requirement made the construction cost increased than the estimated cost. There were certain other factors which made the project completion time-taken. The estimated cost was not enough for the overall construction. It was enough only for the temporary housing of the Scottish parliament, not for the permanent one. These all factors kept on delaying the construction work, which led to the time-taken competing of the project with continuously increasing cost (Fraser, 2004).

Management of the Project

The project's cost was estimated up to £40m in September 1997 even before the identification of the site and the design selection. This approach seems to be quite inappropriate as the cost estimation was made quite earlier. In January 1998, the secretary of state for Scotland selected the site at Holy-rood among the Calton Hill, Haymarket and Leith (news.bbc.co.uk). Donald Dewar had selected this site because of the Royal High school present there. This school had the problems of flexibility and space, but it had the advantage of being cheaper than the purposely built accommodations. Afterwards, a commercial surveyor John Clement noticed the problems of Holy-rood site and with his effort and observations he further added the Queensberry House to the area, which solved the problems of its construction on the road side (Bain, pp. 12-24).

People and government were in great anxiety regarding the construction of the parliament house with these all conspiracies and political rumors about the site selection. However, John Gibbons (Labor Administrator) had run the working continue, although the Holy-rood site was veiled in myth ...