Places

The £160m Manchester Civil Justice Centre in the city’s Spinningfields district was shortlisted for the prestigious 2008 Stirling Prize for architecture.

An open and shut case?

Public opinion seems to be divided on the striking 14-floor new court building which has already been nicknamed ‘The Filing Cabinet’ because its jutting out floors resemble open drawers.

Steve Quinlan of Australian architects Denton Corker Marshall explains that there was a certain method in their madness:

"We wanted to do something that wasn't a square box because the brief from the Court Service was to do a building of at least European if not international significance.

"In actual fact, the jagged profile is very functional, it does actually represent the number and the size of the courts that are in there. So, in fact, it would have been harder to plan the building if we had wanted to make it square."

Design features

The Civil Justice Centre will hear hear High Court cases as well as civil cases such as business disputes, divorce hearings, consumer disputes and personal injury claims.

It's hoped the additional court area will relieve pressure in the nearby Manchester Law Courts and ultimately reduce delays in future hearings and trials. It has:

• 47 court or hearing rooms
• 76 consultation rooms
• seven conference rooms
• six suites for vulnerable witnesses
• video link facilities
• a purpose built suite for mediation
• offices for the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service and Manchester Advisory and Information Service.