The People's Partnership Government and the Opposition PNM will be closer together in the Parliament's new Waterfront location-but only due to space constraints. Also, the public gallery at the new location which can only accommodate 45 people is much smaller than the Red House's public gallery which held 130 people. The media section is smaller as well and even the House Speaker's chair is smaller in the new location. These and other features of the new Parliament chamber at Tower D of the Waterfront Complex were revealed to members of the media yesterday. The complex will be the Parliament's new home for the next three years while the Red House undergoes renovations. The cost of outfitting Parliament's new location is approximately $45million.
Parliament's Corporate Communications manager, Jason Elcock, took the media on a tour of the new chamber where House of Representatives sessions resume next Monday. First order of business at the new location will be Finance Minister WInston Dookeran's presentation of the 2011-2012 Budget. The Parliament occupies floors one to eight of the 26 storey complex. Ministries are on some other floors while several more are empty. The new Parliament's entrance - for members of the public as well as MPs - is on the eastern Wrightson Road side of the complex. Visitors will be electronically scanned before being allowed to proceed to the Parliament Chamber on the mezzanine floor. An elevator and ramps are in place for the disabled to access the Chamber.
The mezzanine floor corridor linking the Chamber to other parts of the floor has been named the "Sir Ellis Clarke Corridor" in honour of late President Clarke. An adjoining room has been named for the first President of the Senate, the late J Hamilton Maurice. It is expected the Senate will meet at that room when simultaneous sessions of the Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament occur. However such sessions are usually for ceremonial openings of Parliament and these are "not envisaged" during the three years that the Parliament will be at the Waterfront, it is understood. The new Chamber where the Upper and Lower Houses will meet, lacks the grandeur and large space of the Red House Chamber's high carved ceilings and formal decor.
The Waterfront Chamber is instead, a smaller, modern looking room with a gray ceiling of average height, fluorescent and recessed lights and a blue carpet with a motif of small yellow and orange star-like emblems. Wooden rails separate the MPs' seats from the media and public galleries. There are 48 MPs chairs in the new Parliament as opposed to 50 which the Red House had. Consequently, about seven Government MPs will be on the back bench (behind the Opposition) rather than only five MPs who had been on the back bench in the Red House. In the smaller setting, the Government, on the left of the room, and the Opposition, on the right, are now separated by a space of slightly less than five feet. The space across the floor between both in the Red House chamber had been wider.
Elcock said that in the UK Parliament the Government and Opposition were usually "two sword lengths" apart. Closer to the top of the rows-and making the space smaller-a table has been placed in the narrow area separating the seats of the Prime Minister and Leader of Government Business from those of the Opposition Leader and Chief Whip. MPs would be able to more readily access their leather armchairs since the front bench and back bench of each row are divided by an aisle. The public gallery to the right of the room-behind the Opposition row - comprises only 45 chairs-a situation which Parliament officials acknowledged would be a "challenge" for special sittings like the Budget.
The original House Speaker's chair, a gift from the Indian Parliament during T&T's Independence in 1962, is not being used since it is too large for the new Chamber. A new Speaker's chair built by Blake Furniture is a smaller version featuring carved stylings based on the design on Central Bank notes. Offices for the Prime Minister, Speaker and Senate President are located on an executive floor. The Opposition has offices on another floor which also accommodates committees meeting rooms. Parliament divisions are on other floors. The media gallery to the north of the chamber accommodates only 35. It was originally designed for 12. Due to space constraints, electronic media broadcasts will not be done from the media section. Elcock said since this would be done via "feed" from Parliament's Channel 11.