It is located on the Royal Mile in the heart of old Edinburgh, opposite the Royal Palace. Construction was completed well behind schedule, and the budget increased eleven times over this period.
The author of the project, the Barcelona architect Enrique Miralles, who died in July 2000, did not see the building ready. His widow and bureau partner Benedetta Tagliabue had to supervise the implementation of the plan alone. They won an international competition for a parliamentary building in 1998.
The customers wanted it to have a “strong Scottish character”. The architects found inspiration in the rugged landscape of the city's surroundings and the floral designs by Charles McIntosh; overturned boats on the seashore served as the basis for the roof solution.
Preliminary estimates of the cost of the complex turned out to be fundamentally incorrect, which led to a discussion that lasted for years on the topic: was it necessary to build a new modern residence for the deputies at all, thereby making a huge gap in the budget of Scotland? Instead of the initially set 40 million pounds, the building cost the state, that is, taxpayers, 431 million (or 644 million euros).
