KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The Jamaica government says construction of the new parliament building is expected to commence by 2021.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness made the statement as he announced the winner of the Government’s Houses of Parliament Design competition will provide the concept for the structure, which will be built at National Heroes Park.
Building designed by Design Collaborative
The winning concept design by Design Collaborative, is titled ‘Out of Many, One People” and features an interconnected building with space to accommodate a football field and an area for outdoor movie watching.
Holness, speaking at the award ceremony on Wednesday, praised the participants for embarking on a “long but rewarding” journey of designing a parliamentary building that will not just be an edifice, but a “working building” of iconic value that will become a tourist attraction.
“We have to make sure that the parliament is functional and that the people who occupy the parliament, their capacity to produce is improved,” he said, adding that the construction of the building is necessary to improve the governance of the country.
Holness said he is “very encouraged” by the work of the architects and is confident that “Jamaica has a great future in architecture”.
He said the government will strive to integrate more architecture in developing the country’s built environment, noting that this is a valuable lesson coming out of the competition.
“Too often, we are doing buildings without a broader consideration for how that building impacts on the wider built environment and how people function and enjoy the space in which they live,” he said.
The Design Collaborative team also copped the People’s Choice award in the competition, having received the highest number of votes during the voting period, from January 29 to February 28.
Design selected from 24 submissions
The winner was chosen from an initial 24 submissions. The entrants were narrowed down to the top five, who were each awarded two million dollars (One Jamaica dollar=US$0.008 cents) for advancing to the second stage of the competition.
The winning team received a total cash prize of seven million dollars and Holness said he expects the final design to be completed by April 2020.
