The bill for the new Holyrood parliament building has officially risen again to almost �325m.

The increase of nearly �16m has been caused by ongoing delays and measures to ensure the new parliament building is completed by its latest target date of next summer.

The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) has written to the parliament's finance committee after it was revealed further delays have put the opening date back until August 2003.

Last month it emerged that a number of important areas including glazing and blast testing of the windows could not be completed until August.

In its letter the SPCB reports that cost consultants advise that the provisional estimated cost of moving the completion date amounted to �15.9m.

This will be made up of �6.6m to extend existing contracts and maintenance of the site from April 2003 to August 2003.

A further �9.3m is required for acceleration measures to ensure completion of the revised programme.