€10m courthouse complex complete
WEXFORD’S €10 million courts complex, the largest in the country outside of Dublin, is to hear its first criminal cases on Tuesday, January 23.
Melding the landmark, red brick former school and municipal building with a state-of-art court, the complex dominates the Wygram area, towering above the houses in what is primarily residential area.
Work on the complex went ahead despite some opposition in the locale, led by locals who considered it out of scale with the rest of the area and one that add to traffic congestion in the area.
Built over the past two years, it includes four courtrooms, custody facilities, court offices and associated facilities.
Facilities in the new court include: Courtrooms which will be enabled for video-conferencing, digital recording, and electronic display of evidence. first class consultation rooms and waiting areas, modern and various sizes of courtrooms and facilities for jurors are provided.
Accommodation for witnesses, victims and relatives have been greatly enhanced in terms of privacy, security and comfort.
There are also dedicated facilities for legal practitioners and the media.
The Courts Service says these new projects will set a new standard for court facilities in Ireland, operating with a flexibility and security, providing suitable, modern accommodation for all court users.
They will provide for the separation, privacy, security and protection of different court users such as witnesses, jurors, and the judiciary.
The courthouse, built on the site of the old municipal buildings, originally the Tate School, is one of four new courthouses built nationwide. The Wexford court cost in the region of €10 million to build.
In 2010, the OPW was granted planning permission for the court complex, which will extend to almost 5,000 square metres.
Built as Tate School in 1867, the Municipal Buildings in Wygram became the headquarters of Wexford Corporation from the 1950s to 2007, when the 1.5-acre property was sold to the Courts Service for €3 million as a site for Wexford’s courthouse.
The residents in the area had been against the location in the mainly residential area of Wygram saying it would change the whole dynamic of the area. The main entrance to the building is opposite St Ibar’s Villas while there will also be a entrance gate at Davitt Road North to cater for prison vans entering and exiting the grounds. Cars will be directed to a car park with 43 parking spaces and a further 11 around other parts of the site. Despite the objections, the contracts were signed the following December as part of a Courts Bundle Public Private Partnership project for the building of four new courthouses and the redevelopment of a further seven regional courthouses by contractors BAM.
Under the PPP model, the courthouses have been designed, built, and financed and will be maintained for 25 years by BAM PPP PGGM. For the past two years, Wexford Court has been held at a unit at Ardcavan Business Park.
The courts complex is the second major public building to be completed in Wexford town in as many months and follows that of the new regional Garda headquarters in Mulgannon.