ABSTRACT
David Boswell Reid wanted to create a ventilation arrangement that would enhance user-satisfaction, an ambition he pursued over a period of 15 years starting with the temporary House of Commons in 1836. The post-occupancy history of the House of Commons shows that Reid faced even more serious difficulties than those encountered by Charles Barry. From February 1852 until April 1854 the performance of the ventilation system was systematically monitored by staff, which followed operational procedures that Reid had previously tested and refined in the temporary Houses of Parliament. On 3 February 1852 the new House of Commons was formally inaugurated and the ventilation system went operational for the first time. Reid’s system underwent a detailed performance evaluation between March and April 1852. This was coordinated by the Select Committee, which was chaired by Lord Robert Grosvenor, the MP for Middlesex, and involved the engineers Joseph Locke and Robert Stephenson as technical advisors.
