“[They] will bring inconvenience to lawmakers, but also benefits in terms of protecting people’s safety,” Leung said, without mentioning the targeted completion date or the cost of the project.

But he denied that they had discussed requiring lawmakers to go through X-ray machines before entering the chamber.

Two commission members, who spoke on condition of anonymity, revealed that the new turnstiles would be 1.8 metres in height to prevent people from scaling them, adding the current half-height turnstiles located at different exits would also be replaced.

One said the move was prompted by previous incidents in which lawmakers and others, including their assistants, had stormed meeting rooms.

Ousted localist lawmakers Sixtus Baggio Leung Chung-hang and Yau Wai-ching and three of their assistants were earlier found guilty on a joint charge and sentenced to four weeks’ jail for storming a Legco meeting in an attempt to take their oath of office in 2016.

“The turnstiles are designed to stop those who are not here for the meeting from storming the rooms,” the commission member said.

But he stopped short of saying whether lawmakers’ assistants would be barred from entering meeting floors under the new practice, adding that the matter was not discussed at Thursday’s meeting.

Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu, leader of the opposition Civic Party, said the turnstiles were unnecessary.

“Unless there is solid evidence to suggest that the risk remains high and that it’s necessary to install extra security measures, I don’t see any reason to spend extra resources,” he said.

The Democratic Party’s Helena Wong Pik-wan said: “Assistants are helping lawmakers do their work. You wouldn’t install gates in your home to guard against family members. Would you install a gate between your bedroom and the living room?”

The opposition camp decided earlier to boycott the commission, but they said this should not have stopped the committee from consulting lawmakers who were not members.

On July 1 last year, anti-government protesters stormed the complex and vandalised the chamber, including spray-painting the walls with graffiti.

03:51

Brian Leung Kai-ping: the Legco protester unmasked

Brian Leung Kai-ping: the Legco protester unmasked

Leung on Thursday said they had to shelve the agenda while awaiting government advice on the matter.

People Power lawmaker Raymond Chan Chi-chuen, who plans not to take his seat for the extended term, had threatened legal action if the government did not grant him end-of-term gratuity and allowances for serving the original four-year stretch.

But he reiterated he would reconsider his stance if most respondents in the citywide survey expected later this month supported them in serving out the longer term.

Meanwhile, speaking on an online TV interview, former Legco president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing urged opposition lawmakers to stay on for the extended Legco term and make use of the extra year to work with their pro-establishment rivals, the Hong Kong government, and Beijing to rebuild a dialogue mechanism.

“Some critics said pan-democrats should quit because they should not accept being appointed to serve another year. That is a very big misunderstanding. No one is going to appoint them again. Their term is actually extended,” he said.

Additional reporting by Jeffie Lam and Ng Kang-chung