UDC Launches Houses of Parliament Design Competition Exhibition

The Urban Development Corporation (UDC), today (January 29), launched the People’s Choice Exhibition for the Houses of Parliament Architectural Design Competition.

The displays, which have been mounted at the National Gallery of Jamaica in Kingston, will allow the public to view and vote on one of the competition’s five designs from Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

The exhibition, which is slated to run until February 28, showcases the three-dimensional models, animated videos and detailed conceptual drawings submitted by the five shortlisted Jamaican architectural teams.

Admission to the gallery is free for children and students with valid IDs as well as on Saturdays during the period of the exhibition.

The standard $400 entry fee for adults and $200 for seniors remains in effect for all other days, except the gallery’s free entry offering every last Sunday.

Voting will also be facilitated locally and in the Diaspora via a customised SMS platform where individuals will be able to text the code of the preferred design to 1-876-399-4774.

Persons can also vote via the competition’s website – www.ourjaparliament.com – for the exhibition’s duration.

The UDC’s Corporate Communications Director, Lorna Clarke, said this aspect of the competition is in keeping with instructions from Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, to facilitate public engagement on the choice of the proposed new Parliament’s design.

“The Prime Minister made it very clear that this is a national project and it is something that he wanted public participation in; and so this is what we are doing with the People’s Choice Exhibition,” she told JIS News.

Acting General Manager of the UDC, Heather Pinnock, said her organisation is pleased to partner with the National Gallery in facilitating this phase of the engagement.

“We’re very excited that we have reached this far in the process…and we’re very happy to invite everyone down to the gallery to see the exhibition. We’re really pleased with the results to date. It is UDC’s 50th anniversary and this [competition] has been a key part of the celebrations,” she said.

Senior Curator of the National Gallery, O’Neil Lawrence, noted that the centre welcomes the opportunity to host the competition’s top five designs.

“We’re very happy to partner with the UDC in this because one of the main aspects of our mandate is the promotion of Jamaica’s visual culture. We’re encouraging everyone to come and see the exhibits that we have on display and learn more about the competitors’ work,” he said.

Officially launched in May 2018 by the Prime Minister, the Houses of Parliament Design Competition was opened to all registered local architects or teams comprising a registered local architect.

Design Submissions were received locally as well from Jamaicans living in the United Kingdom, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, the United States of America, Argentina, Italy, Canada, Serbia, Turkey and Iran.

The winner, who will be awarded a cash prize of $5 million, will be announced in in March.

They will also get the opportunity to work alongside the contractor as part of the project’s implementation team.

The second-place entry will receive $4 million, with third place getting $2 million.

Construction of a new Parliament building forms part of the National Heroes Park Redevelopment and Government Campus Project, and a master plan to redevelop downtown Kingston.