Senedd – Welsh Parliament

Senedd Building

The Senedd – the Welsh Parliament building – celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2016. It was opened by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh on 1st March, 2006.

Have you ever been there? It has had many visitors since being established:

• Thousands of pupils from across Wales have visited the Senedd with their family or on a school trip.
• Over 50,000 people have taken a tour of the Senedd.
• More than 1,000,000 people have visited the building.

 A special building

The building is very special.

• It has won a number of awards.
• It was designed by famous architect Lord Richard Rogers.
• He used lots of glass windows to show that everyone can see what happens in the Senedd.
• The building is supposed to last 100 years.
• 36% of the materials come from Wales, including 1,000 tonnes of Welsh slate.
• The Senedd building cost around £41m to build.
• To enter the Senedd building, you have to go through a security system very similar to that at an airport.

A green building

The Senedd building is one of the greenest in Wales:

• It uses between 30% and 50% less energy than normal buildings.
• Pipes have been drilled 100m underground. When it is cold, water is pumped down through the pipes and natural energy from the ground heats the water to 14°C. The water is then pumped up to the slate floor to heat the building.
• Rainwater is collected from the roof and used to flush the toilets in the building. Two 50,000 litre tanks store the water from the roof.
• A biomass boiler burns waste wood chips to heat the building.

What happens in the different parts of the Senedd?

If you look down at the building from outside, you see the Neuadd through the glass windows. This is the reception area with a large slate desk. 

In the Senedd Chamber, the 60 Members of the Senedd (MSs) meet to discuss important issues. The seats are arranged in a circle, with the First Minister in the front row. Each MS sits behind a desk of Welsh oak. 

You can watch Members of the Senedd if you go to the public Gallery. This is in the wooden funnel that looks like a tree. The building also contains committee rooms where Members discuss specific things.

Famous politicians of Wales

David Lloyd George (1863–1945)

To date, Lloyd George is the only Welsh speaker who has been Prime Minister. He was born in Llanystumdwy, near Cricieth, Dwyfor.

He trained as a lawyer. When he was elected Liberal Member of Parliament for Arfon in 1890, he was the youngest member of the House of Commons. What was his age?

Lloyd George's major contribution was the introduction of the Welfare State. This means that the country provides help to people in need such as the unemployed, the sick and the elderly (pensions). He was also a great speaker, and famous for his passionate speeches.

In 1915, during the First World War, he became Minister of Munitions and then Prime Minister from 1916 to 1922.

Aneurin Bevan (1897–1960)

Aneurin Bevan is famous throughout Britain for establishing the National Health Service (NHS).

He was born in Tredegar. His father was a miner and Aneurin was one of ten children. He left school at a young age and went to work in the colliery at the age of 13.

At the age of 22, he received a scholarship to study economics, history and politics at the Labour Party Central College in London. He was selected to be Labour Party candidate in the Ebbw Vale constituency in 1929. He won the seat and retained it for 31 years.

In 1945, after the Second World War, Aneurin Bevan became Minister for Health in the Labour government. Aneurin Bevan’s National Health Service Act was passed in 1946, and the Service was established in 1948. People no longer had to pay to see the doctor or to stay in hospital: this was funded by public money.

Gwynfor Evans (1912–2005)

Gwynfor Evans was the first Member of Parliament for Plaid Cymru. He was born in Barry. He trained as a lawyer, but for most of his life worked as a commercial gardener in Llangadog, in the Tywi Valley.

While he was at university in Aberystwyth, Gwynfor Evans established a branch of Plaid Cymru. He was a pacifist and refused to fight in the Second World War. In 1945, he became President of Plaid Cymru and remained president for 36 years.

In the 1950s he began a campaign against the drowning of the village of Cwm Celyn near Bala – a scheme to create the Tryweryn reservoir to provide water for Liverpool. This campaign failed, but a great many people came to understand the need to protect Welsh-speaking communities and the Welsh language. Plaid Cymru became much more popular during the Tryweryn campaign.

In July 1966, very unexpectedly, he won the Carmarthen by-election. This is the first time that Plaid Cymru had won a seat at Westminster. Hundreds of people went to London to see him enter the House of Commons for the first time.

Gwynfor was a central figure in establishing the Welsh language television channel, S4C.