Parliament to be renovated for 500m

The search has begun for a contractor to take responsibility for the 500 million euro renovation of Vienna’s historic parliamentary building.

According to a government spokesman the successful contractor will be sought by inviting tenders from across Europe. Specifications for the contract will be made available in the middle of next month.

In the first stage the 10 best bids will be selected and then in the second stage the successful applicants from stage I will be invited to demonstrate their concept. During this process the concept will also be finalised.

The entire building is due to be renovated as part of the process. The move was pre-staged by a row between an architect firm based in Linz that had expected to be given the job for the renovation of the main voting chamber.

But the contract was cancelled and the architects firm has registered a formal complaint.

A decision on who will get the final contract is being decided by a list of prominent names including the architects Walter Angonese, Boris Podrecca, Marta Schreieck and Jan Söndergaard  as well as Detlef Heck.  Chairman will be Ernst Beneder and his deputy is Martin Treberspurg.

The MPs involved in the renovation work and sitting on the committee are Barbara Prammer (SPÖ), Georg Keuschnigg (ÖVP), Fritz Neugebauer (ÖVP) and Harald Dossi.

In the meantime a location also needs to be chosen for the parliament to convene while the renovation is being carried out – expected to take place in 2016.