Parliament's Speaker hopes to one day "blow the dust off" plans for a new Parliament building, once political circumstances change.

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Last term his predecessor, National's David Carter, unveiled plans to spend at least $100 million on demolishing the former Press Gallery annex and on two new buildings.

However, the commitment in the coalition deal between Labour and New Zealand not to build any new parliamentary buildings this term, brought it all to an abrupt halt.

Speaker Trevor Mallard said he put an immediate stop to any work as soon as he became aware of the decision in the coalition agreement.

But he still held out hope one day the plan would be revived.

"The request that I've made is that all of the work is locked up in a careful place both online and offline ... there are some resources that have been developed off which the dust could be blown in a decade or so if people were so minded," Mr Mallard said.

Mr Mallard appeared at select committee this morning alongside Parliamentary Services head David Stevenson, where they were asked how much money had been spent on the initial plans.

Mr Stevenson said $10 million had been allocated and of that $3.5 million had been spent.

The work was supposed to have started in December last year; a five-story building for MPs was to have been built on the carpark behind Parliament House with access via an air bridge.