Extensions To The Building
The first extension was the West Green building for which plans were drawn in 1910; the space was for extra divorce courts. They were the first to have modern air conditioning and tape recording in their original design.
The next new building was the Queen’s Building, opened in 1968, providing a further 12 courts. This building also contains cells in the basement. It was intended that these courts could be used for criminal matters, however as the jury boxes can hold only 10 people they are not suitable for such a use and are now primarily used for family proceedings.
With an ever increasing workload the eleven-storey Thomas More Building was built to house the Bankruptcy and Companies Courts and yet more offices. A grand view can be had from the top looking over to St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Central Criminal Court in the City of London.
Finally, it was necessary to build an additional twelve courts for the Chancery Division named the Thomas More Courts, which opened in January 1990. All this has meant there is little room left for further extension on the site should it be necessary in the future. However, an extensive refurbishment of the East Block took place during 1994-95 which provided 14 extra courts for the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal and 2 extra large courts which are unassigned and will be used for cases where there are several parties involved or there are an unusually large number of documents and books.
It should also be remembered that there are further courts at St. Dunstan’s House, which come under the wing of the Law Courts and are within short walking distance.
Anyone is allowed to watch the trials which are taking place free of charge, apart from private family cases such as adoption proceedings.
Read more about this topic: Royal Courts Of Justice
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