HOLYROOD BOSSES have struck an out-of-court deal with two firms following the collapse of part of the parliament's roof two years ago.

Officials have reached an agreement with construction company Laing O'Rourke and engineers Arup that will recover just less than £650,000 for taxpayers - 80% of what the parliament wanted.

MSPs and the public had to be evacuated from the parliament's main chamber in May 2006 after a roof beam on the £431 million building broke free of its fixing.

The fiasco led to the chamber being closed for months and prompted a temporary relocation to the Hub in central Edinburgh.

Officials have since been locked in talks with two companies involved with building the roof, the aim of which was to recover the costs of repairs and of moving the parliament to another venue.

The Sunday Herald understands that an agreement has now been reached, details of which should be announced this week.

Laing O'Rourke, whose representatives have been negotiating with the parliament for months, have agreed to meet around £570,000 of the costs relating to the beam problems.

Arup, meanwhile, are said to have forgone a portion of the fee for the work carried out fixing the roof, a sum which amounts to just in excess of £70,000.

The total figure - less than £650,000 - is 80% of the costs the parliament believes are associated with the strut incident.

Holyrood officials entered negotiations with the aim of recovering £800,000, a figure that was chipped away at during the course of talks.

The parliament's governing corporate body earlier this month approved the deal reached by officials.

The costs will be recovered by withholding the release of balances, otherwise known as retentions, that are still due to the two contractors.

Officials wanted to avoid court proceedings, as they believed such an approach could saddle them with high legal bills and lead to a less generous settlement.

A Scottish parliament spokesman declined to comment on any specific aspect of the deal, but said: "We are in the latter stages of negotiations, but an agreement is not yet in place. We hope to be in a position to announce an outcome shortly."

However, a spokesman for Laing O'Rourke said: "The matter is now resolved."

Lothians MSP Margo MacDonald said: "To be fair, if you get 80% in any negotiations then that is a good deal. They may not have done as badly as they might have done. However, there are still plenty of questions to ask about this matter."

A spokesman for Arup could not be contacted.