(39)  Spaniard to design Scottish Parliament

Enric Miralles from Barcelona has been chosen to be the architect of the Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood, it was announced on 6 July 1998. His competition-winning design is inspired by images of upturned boats and the ambience of the site between the crag and tail of the Old Town of Edinburgh and Arthur’s Seat and Salisbury Crags. But, although construction of the building is expected to commence in spring 1999, the design or concept is still at an early stage. The day after Miralles’ appointment, the Edinburgh Evening News reported that the architect was being sued in Spain in respect of the collapse during construction of a building designed by him. But it was thought that he was a co-defender alongside the building contractor and the engineer, and that the fault behind the collapse lay with one or other of those parties rather than the architect.