Sunday Herald

The Fraser Inquiry into the cost of the Holyrood parliament has been a flawed exercise that will intimidate a generation of Scottish architects into avoiding creative risks. In the week that politicians and staff begin to move into the £431 million parliament, Charles Jencks, an international architectural author and critic has accused the Fraser Inquiry – set up to investigate into the spiralling cost of construction – of being incapable of evaluating the project architecturally or financially. Writing in the Sunday Herald, Jencks compares the Fraser Inquiry to “junior accountants at Christie's, and a few assistant artists, asked to value an Anthony Caro sculpture when it was half-complete and covered in scaffolding and tarpaulins”.