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Civil Justice Centre

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Opened on 24 October 2007, the Manchester Civil Justice Centre is the biggest court complex to be built in the UK since the Royal Courts of Justice were constructed in London between 1868-82
It comprises of 47 court rooms, tribunal and hearing rooms plus offices and facilities for judges.
In addition to being a courthouse it is also the new north-west England headquarters for the Department of Constitutional Affairs.
On completion in 2007 it had the largest glass wall in Europe: a 63m by 60m cavity glass wall as a façade along its western edge supported by sixty metre high triangular atrium columns all suspended from the 11-storey atrium roof.
The floors cantilever up to 15 metres from the building's columns creating what the architect has dubbed "fingers", a feature that give the building some distinctive interior space.
Complete trusses for the cantilevering floor areas were fabricated and welded together at the steelwork contractor's works. A police escort was needed to accompany each unit to the site after 7pm because of their size and to minimise traffic disruption.
Tension reinforcement of the composite steel deck floors distribute to the main slip-formed concrete core floor the high tensile forces produced at the top of each cantilevering floor area, and the high compression forces produced at the bottom of each cantilevering floor area.
Due to the buildings large open floor spans, engineer Mott MacDonald used its bridge designers to analyse floor vibrations including the effects of footfall to help make sure there would be no excessive wobbling.
Wind scoops facing the direction of the prevailing wind circulate air through the building to provide natural ventilation when internal temperatures reach higher than desired i.e. in summer. A conventional ventilation system becomes engaged by a computer-controlled weather station on the roof, when wind speed is too low for the natural ventilation system to function and when it is not summer
Suspended powder-coated mesh panels on the east façade control solar gain and intend to also maximise natural daylight.
The groundwater cooling element of the cooling system via an aquifer reduces cooling load energy consumption by around 15-20%.
Awarded Green Major Project of the Year in the Green Construction Awards 2007.
Its architect, Denton Corker Marshall, won Australia's most prestigious architecture prize - the Royal Australian Institute of Architects National Awards (RAIA) Jørn Utzon Award for International Architecture for designing this building
The project won the Rose Design Awards' Architecture Grand Prix Gold Award and Best Public Building Gold Award, sustainable design awards