| With the costs of the new
Parliament building currently whooshing up-a-ky past the stratosphere, MSPs took decisive
action this week to bring the project costs under control: out goes a civil servant who
knew nothing about large scale construction projects and in comes another civil servant
who, er, knows nothing about large scale construction projects. There was some controversy surrounding the sacking of the
ex-project leader, with suggestions that he may have cavilled at some of the cost overruns
associated with the new building.
Specifically, the sacked servant had questioned the
prudence of re-creating the Hanging Gardens of Babylon in the new foyer - to scale.
Likewise, he reportedly entered a note of caution at the cost of the Italian marble needed
to |
complete the Roman style
spa pool, designed exclusively for male MSPs use and code-named "The Boys Room." New project chief, 30 year old Sarah Davidson, told the JT
that her total lack of construction experience will not hinder her cost monitoring role:
"I will fully scrutinise every cheque I'm asked to sign, ensuring that the date box
has been properly filled out. For technical reasons that I don't fully understand, the
amount line will have to be left blank, but I'm sure it'll be OK."
Main contractor, Roy Rogers, welcomed the new
appointment, "I fully expect that the new project head will spend many fruitful hours
down IKEA picking out some nice lamps, while we get on with the absolutely vital work of
submitting massive invoices and having them paid out without a murmur…" |
