Building: The Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh

Architect: EMBT / RMJM Ltd

Stone type: Kemnay granite, Aberdeenshire; Belfast Black granite, South Africa; Caithness slab flooring

Construction type: Rainscreen cladding and feature panels to external walls

Begun in 1998 and completed in 2004, the Scottish Parliament is arguably the most important public building constructed in Scotland for almost 300 years and considerable public debate took place over the type of stone to be used to clad the building’s exterior. The architect, Enric Miralles, selected granite in order to emphasise the complex’s relationship to the landscape and for its sparkle when wet. Fyfe Glenrock quarried 14,000 tonnes of granite from Kemnay Quarry in Aberdeenshire to provide material for the grey rainscreen covering, and some 2,000 tonnes of Black Belfast granite were imported from South Africa by Scottish Natural Stones to form the overlaid mosaic of feature panels.

The profile of the panels is reputed to have its origins in the outline of the Reverend Robert Walker skating on Duddingston Loch, a popular painting in the National Gallery of Scotland. Innovative fixing methods needed to be devised to support the technically complex granite panels in locations which were often at some distance from the reinforced concrete structural wall. The variety of different fixing surfaces posed a significant technical challenge to the contractors, Watson Stonecraft, who also had to ensure that all fixings and components fabricated for the stonework had a design life in excess of 100 years. In all, 128 feature panels and 26 smaller feature panels were installed.

Set into the concrete boundary wall on the Canongate are stones from around Scotland, some containing fossils and others inscribed with Scottish proverbs and quotations for passers-by to read.