Exclusive:Parliament Hall fireplaces to stop burning for first time in almost 400 years amid environmental concerns

Now, the historic fireplaces are to stop being lit for the first time in almost 400 years, after receiving backlash from environmental campaigners over a legal exemption to rules which make central Edinburgh a smokeless zone - rendering the grand hall unusable in the winter months.

Staff at the Faculty of Advocates are understood to have been told they will be unable to host events after September for the duration of the winter as the vast room, which has no modern heating system, will be too cold to use. However, a court spokesman insisted no such guidance had been issued and the hall would continue to be operational.

Modern heating is installed in other parts of the building such as offices and court rooms, part of a complex off the High Street which now houses Scotland’s supreme civil court, the Court of Session.

While smokeless fuel laws have been in place in Edinburgh for some years, as a heritage building, Parliament Hall has had an exemption from the Scottish Parliament's rules over using coal in city centre fireplaces. It was the main chamber of the original Scottish parliament before it was dissolved by the Act of Union in 1707.

It emerged two years ago in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOI) request that 625kg of coal was burned in three large fireplaces in the hall which are lit between October and the end of March each year, the equivalent of one 25kg bag of coal being burned every week.

Environmental groups welcomed the change.

Fraser Sutherland, coalition manager at Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, said: “Ending coal fires at Edinburgh’s historical Parliament Hall comes better late than never. Our forebears burned coal and wood to keep warm because that’s what they had. But the associated health problems were no secret, even in medieval times – when Edinburgh was nicknamed Auld Reekie.

“Today we also know that emissions from burning fossil fuels are the key cause of climate change.”

He added: “There is no excuse to keep living in the dark, smoggy ages. Electricity came to Scotland in the 1870s. Edinburgh’s legal professionals can keep warm using modern, low-carbon heating technology, cutting emissions and toxic air pollution at the same time.”

A spokesperson for the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service claimed that “in the past”, a single fireplace had been lit using smokeless fuel, in contradiction to the FOI response provided in January 2024. The court service said at the time that the fires accounted for between 0.02 and 0.03 per cent of its total emissions.

The spokesperson said: “In the past, a single fire has been lit during the winter period in Parliament Hall using smokeless fuel. In support of our environmental commitments, from last winter, the fire has no longer been routinely lit.”

They added: “The offices, court rooms and other facilities used in Parliament House benefit from a modern heating system, so this change has no impact on service users or staff."