Scottish Parliament staff are working in a ‘building site’

Staff
at the troubled Scottish Parliament are working in unacceptable conditions
because it is still a "building site", it was claimed last night.

Disgruntled
employees have complained they were told to start using their new offices
before construction work was finished. Their concerns focus on the noise and
dust being generated by ongoing work to finish the £431m building in Edinburgh
which is already three years late.

The
Scotsman newspaper reports the amount of dust has been so bad that it has
repeatedly set off fire alarms and staff have been struggling to cope with high
temperatures in their offices because the air conditioning system is not
working properly.

One
member of staff told the newspaper: "No matter what the parliament says,
staff are working on a building site. There is constant noise and dust with
staff having to leave the building regularly to obtain relief and breathable
air."

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Last
night, a spokesman for the parliament said there had been some problems for
staff, but denied the heating had been affected. He accepted that dust had been
a factor in "two out of three" false alarms last week.

By Mike Berry