A former project manager of the 拢308m Scottish parliament project has attacked the Scottish executive and the presiding officer for their roles in the scheme.
Bill Armstrong, who resigned from his role as the Scottish Office鈥檚 project manager on the Edinburgh building in 1998, has written a letter to The Scotsman outlining his criticisms.

Armstrong says David Steel, the parliament鈥檚 presiding officer 鈥� equivalent to the speaker in the House of Commons 鈥� was largely to blame for the fiasco that has resulted in the project going more than six times over budget. Armstrong says Steel should not have agreed to design changes 12 months after the appointment of the late Enric Miralles as architect.

He writes: 鈥淲hen Sir David said he met with the architect and agreed an increase in space, almost doubling the area, the die was cast and the project was out of control. The redesign, the additional area, the construction managers鈥� costs and the abortive professional fees will have added considerably to the original cost.鈥�

The appointment of Miralles was also criticised. Armstrong said the Catalan architect had 鈥渘o track record鈥� in comparable projects.

Armstrong also warned that the costing and timing of the project was impossible to judge. He said: 鈥淸It] will stagger on, incurring additional costs and finishing in its own good time.鈥�

Armstrong was the first of two project managers to resign from the scheme as costs rose. Alan Ezzi left in June last year. The current project manager, Sarah Davidson, has faced calls to resign.