After a turbulent first four years, the Scottish devolution project was on a knife edge.

The much-anticipated Scottish Parliament building in Holyrood was spiralling further and further into farce and, as the years went on, the price tag continued to rise beyond comprehension.

Jack McConnell was at the head of a rainbow parliament, with Labour and Liberal Democrats entering a coalition partnership once more. Sectarianism and Malawi were top of Mr McConnell's to do list, while the smoking ban would turn out to be the lasting legacy of his premiership.

But it was the parliament building which continued to dominate the headlines.

Costing £414 million - ten times over budget - the new Presiding Officer George Reid battled to bring the project to a close.

Looking back at the fiasco, Mr Reid commented: "I'd worked as a senior manager for the International Red Cross so I was fairly used to crises. I didn't choose to be Bob the Builder I can tell you.  But the building was already attracting interest and alarm."

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Scottish Parliament - A Timeline

Part 1 - Scottish Parliament - The Early Years

Part 3 - Scottish Parliament - Transition Years

On September 15, 2004, Lord Fraser published his report into the Holyrood building fiasco. A month later, the building was officially opened with a price tag of a whopping £414 million.

Meanwhile, Alex Salmond was emerging from political cold storage - replacing John Swinney as leader of the Scottish National Party.

Then, of course, there was Tommy Sheridan. He quit as the leader of the Scottish Socialist Party before lurid allegations about his sex life hit the front pages.

What followed was the most enthralling David v Goliath libel cases in Scottish legal history, when Mr Sheridan successfully sued the News of the World.

He stated at the time: "What we have done in the last five weeks is the equivalent of Gretna taking on Real Madrid in the Bernabeu and beating them on penalties - that's what we've done. "

Or was it? Mr Sheridan currently faces charges for perjury. 

Elsewhere, a drunken Mike Watson was setting fire to a hotel's curtains during a political awards night. The Labour Lord was later jailed.

It was also the turn of Scottish Conservative leader David McLetchie to take a trip on the media merry-go-round. He came under fire after it emerged he travelled to the dentist in a taxi at the taxpayers' expense.

The Holyrood building would have the last laugh though, after a faulty roof beam forced the chamber's closure. In the end it was two long and expensive months before MSPs returned.

The roof beams weren't the only things changing in Holyrood. The winds of political change were blowing in the Nationalists' favour.