Manchester Civil Justice Centre
- Client: Her Majesty’s Court Service
- Principal designer: Denton Corker Marshall
- Principal engineer: Mott Macdonald
- Principal contractor: Bovis Lend Lease
- Contract value: £112 million
About the project
With under-par accommodation for court services scattered across Manchester, a new building was urgently needed. Although this urgency was not allowed to compromise quality, accessibility, transparency or sustainability.
Manchester Civil Justice Centre is the biggest court complex to be built in the UK since the Royal Courts of Justice, providing 47 courtrooms. It met a demanding brief for ‘a sustainable building of civic generosity and European significance with minimal impact on the environment’. The new building will greatly improve facilities and capacity in the north-west, reducing delays in hearings and trials.
The building features a spectacular 60-metre glass façade, an environmental veil to provide solar shading, an 11-storey atrium and dramatic cantilevered, asymmetric ‘fingers’ to resemble the rising steps to justice. Unusually for a building of this size, it is naturally ventilated, which is popular with courtroom users. Groundwater cooling is used to further reduce the building’s carbon footprint and save energy costs, and the use of daylight has been maximised. The building has received an Excellent BREEAM rating. The project was the result of close teamwork from competition entry to completion.
Judges' comment
"The procurement method is a triumph for court services: an architectural competition, followed by a separate competition for the developer, has resulted in a modern rival to the Royal Courts of Justice."