Monday, February 23, 2004
New Assembly Chamber
From the top, on the left this is why I never wear hats, whilst on the right Business Minister, Karen Sinclair, proves herself to be a natural foreman. On the left of the bottom row, the view inside the Chamber. To the right, Lorraine Barrett and Elin Jones leave their mark behind in the new chamber watched by Janice Gregory.
I have been meaning to put these photographs on for some time. They record the visit of the House Committee and various other Assembly Members to the building site where the new Assembly Chamber is being erected. We were given a guided tour by representatives of the developers including the opportunity to walk around the site of the new Chamber itself.
We all had to dress the part for the visit including steel toe capped boots, hard hats and fluorescent jackets. As you can see the outfits suited some more than others.
The highlight of the tour was the graffitti wall where all visitors are invited to add their signatures. No doubt these scribblings will be covered up in due course but nevertheless some AMs seemed remarkably reluctant to contribute. It was almost as if they did not want to be seen setting a bad example for others.
There is still some way to go before this chamber building is ready. I believe that we are looking to take possession of it in Autumn 2005 and that the official opening is being pencilled in for St. David's Day 2006. No doubt we will have a chance to visit again before then.
It makes a change to be able to provide a ground view of the development rather than shots taken from the third floor looking down.
