Video | Siambr

Virtual Tours

Rhuanedd Richards, Presenter of BBC Wales' Political Programmes is your guide for the virtual tour of the Senedd. Click on the links to find out more about each area.

Siambr

On the ground floor, at the very heart of the Senedd is the Debating Chamber, the "Siambr". It is here that the 60 Assembly Members meet twice a week, on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons to hold their plenary sessions.

The circular layout of the room has been deliberately designed to create an inclusive, less confrontational debating environment, unlike Westminster. This is achieved by physically removing the direct adversarial seating relationship between Executive and other Assembly members.

Each Assembly Member has their own touch screen computer where they vote electronically with the results displayed immediately on this large screen. Members can also access documents and emails from their computer.

Every element of this space has been designed with a strong sense of purpose. The co-operative seating arrangements and the imposing wooden funnel reinforce the seriousness of the decisions made in the Chamber. Situated on the floor in the very middle of the chamber, is Alexander's Beleshenko's two-metre wide gold and blue glass dome 'The Heart of Wales'.

The Chamber has been designed to accommodate an increase in the number of assembly members. Currently the space can seat 60 assembly members but this can be increased to 80 by removing the panel-clad temporary walls in the Siambr.

The virtual tour was produced by BBC Wales before the official opening of the Senedd on St. David’s Day 2006. You can find out more about the Senedd on BBC Online by following this link: www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southeast/sites/assembly/

© Copyright – BBC Wales 2006