How long will Parliament House be used before they need a new one?
Australian Parliament House
DPS Auspic
Australian Parliament House
DPS Auspic
Description
The front of Australian Parliament House, Canberra. This building is where the Australian Parliament meets.
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Thanks for your interesting question, Anu.
Australian Parliament House has been designed to last 200 years, so it should be quite a while before we need a new one!
Parliament House replaced the provisional parliament building (now known as Old Parliament House) which was only intended to be temporary but ended up being used for 61 years (1927–1988).
Despite its size (300 metres long x 300 metres wide) and having 4 500 rooms, there are already some days when Parliament House is filled to capacity. On busy sitting – meeting – days there are usually 4 000 to 5 000 people at work in the building.
If these numbers continue to grow, Parliament House—like Old Parliament House—may be unable to accommodate everyone.