14 February 2026
In camera
It’s been three seasons since my last update, with a gloomy winter dampening the spirits recently, but a lot happens in the dark. Activity continues, things get done. Some of this can be observed, more can be discovered and much intuited. And so, on a Valentine’s Day that joyously saw the sun blaze away in the capital, what can we determine of the recent past when the clouds of the present momentarily part and some light is thrown on that below?
Topping out of the courthouse complex occurred in September last year, with the in-situ reinforced concrete structure reaching its highest level and conveying now the sheer size of the enterprise. A layer of flat, pre-cast reinforced concrete panels is then attached, to provide – a source tells me – blast protection to that structure; it is these “greybacks” as I gather they are known to which the final finishes are mounted. These last include large slabs of granite (beautifully shaped to take the material around the corners) that wrap the lowest storey. Similar considerations of security inform construction of the police building, whose box section COR-TEN® weathering steel columns have been seen being filled with concrete.
Glazing of the window openings was already underway in October, and the self-contained, closed-cavity units common to most of today’s commercial sites are now in place across the building as, I suspect, are the fascinating cryptoporticus windows. On the rear façade, overlooking the reshaped pedestrian path between the courthouse and the police station, the stacked oriels that will contain consulting areas are made more apparent by their own facing of granite. Further along, a convex bulge conceals the sweeping curve of the principal staircase. Within, one can imagine the mammoth fit-out phase to come. This will almost certainly include an expanded IT and communications suite given the huge increase since the project began of remote hearings, even before Sir Brian Leveson’s recommendation this month that this should be the default mode for all new cases. Where custody is needed, an early visit to another new courthouse some years ago suggests something of the security measures to be built in (literally) to the cell accommodation at Salisbury Square.
The public art programme intended for the courthouse is now rather clearer. Those cryptoporticus windows are located at the top of selected 2m x 4m granite panels within that ground floor cladding. Quarried in Africa, the slabs have been worked in Portugal to realise designs by Turner prize nominee Shirazeh Houshiary RA that are “inspired by the structure of human DNA strands and the idea of the human fingerprint”. This involves cutting patterns into the granite by water jet and inlaying them with coloured glass, this to be backlit by fibre optics. More textured and coloured glass will be used to create screens above the main entrance; layered and featuring clear and un-glazed sections, these are already visible.
Eric Parry Architects posted on Instagram last autumn that this scheme will “amplify the building's civic gravitas and sense of place while paying homage to the rich history and cultural identity of the Fleet Street area as a place of law, order, justice, dialogue, literature, and journalism”. Though admirably on-message in the context of the practice’s previously declared aims for the project, I’m not convinced. It’s a curious decision to have illuminated, organic patterns writhing within the walls of a courthouse– a long way from the solid civic presence one might reasonably expect from such a building.
But back to the practicalities. The various functions of the different buildings, from lobbies to courtrooms to offices to relaxation areas, can now be detected, prompting reflection on the complexity of the build process: three buildings, each with very different functions, components, requirements and restrictions, which must also limit the opportunities for commonalities and thus efficiencies and cost savings. And there is the simple volume of material required too – servicing the build must be as challenging as servicing the completed complex will be.
We’re a year away yet from the most recently-announced planned opening date, which is itself at least 18 months later than that intended back in 2019. As it happens, another HMCTS building project in the City of London, much less publicised but also overdue, will finally open for business on Monday week, more than two years later than planned. The London Tribunals Centre at 7 Newgate Street, a few minutes’ walk away from Salisbury Square, brings together in one modern building civil hearings previously conducted at two other sites in London. With a long leasehold acquired for £111 million back in 2022, the government last year announced an additional £67 million had been committed to transforming this office block originally built in 2000 into a hearing centre. Whether this sum includes rectification of the many defects reported in the trade press and by those with knowledge of the situation is not clear but this morning, hi-vi’d contractors were busily unloading furniture down a side street whilst the lobby was seemingly finished but with plenty of pots of paint still in evidence.
As I said, a lot happens in the dark.
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