RIBA English Partnerships Sustainability Award - architeria.eu

MANCHESTER CIVIL JUSTICE CENTRE WINS RIBA ENGLISH PARTNERSHIPIS
SUSTAINABILITY AWARD

The Manchester Civil Justice Centre by Denton Corker Marshall has won the RIBA English Partnerships
Sustainability Award.

The announcement was made on Saturday 11 October at a special awards ceremony for the RIBA
Stirling Prize in association with The Architects' Journal at the BT Arena and Convention Centre in Liverpool.
The £5000 prize was presented to the winners by Dr Pauleen Lane, Deputy Chair of English Partnerships.

The prize was established in 2000 the award is made to the building that demonstrates most elegantly
and durably the principles of sustainable architecture.

The Manchester Civil Justice Centre is the largest court building to be built in the UK since the Royal Courts
of Justice in the 1880s. The architectural expression and resolution of the environmental design sets
this building apart. Environmental sustainability has been integrated into the design from the start;
natural ventilation to all areas and a mixed-mode ventilation system serving the court rooms contributes
to the BREEAM rating of 'Excellent'.

Kevin McGeogh of sponsors English Partnerships and one of the judging panel said:

“This pioneering new building separates civil and criminal justice systems, creating a new civic building that
is open and accessible. The working courts and offices are expressed as rectilinear forms, articulated
at each floor level. The building is an elegant and beautifully executed response to a complex brief
that has made a significant contribution to the regeneration this part of Manchester.”

The other buildings shortlisted for the award were:

Oundle School Science Technology Block by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios LLP
Bristol Brunel Academy by Wilkinson Eyre Architects
Oxley Woods, Milton Keynes by Roger Stirk Harbour + Partners

MANCHESTER CIVIL JUSTICE CENTRE

Bridle Street West, Manchester
Architect: Denton Corker Marshall
Client: Allied London
Structural Engineer: Mott MacDonald
Services Engineer: Mott MacDonald
Contractor: Bovis Lend Lease
Contract Value: £120m
Date of completion: July 2007
Gross internal area: 34,000 m2

The Manchester Civil Justice Centre is the largest court building to be built in the UK since the Royal Courts
of Justice in the 1880s and it re-thinks the building type. This pioneering new building separates civil justice
from the criminal justice system, creating a new civic building that is open and accessible. All courts demands
a particular plan, separating public from the private, front of house from back of house. The response here
is a very literal diagram: the working courts and offices are expressed as rectilinear forms, articulated
at each floor level, with the court rooms internally expressed as cantilevered structures on the end
elevations and meeting and waiting rooms projecting internally at right angles to the courts and into
the atrium.

It is an interesting place to be as a result. The detailing was described by one judge
as 'gorgeous', particularly in the atrium where the lift facades with their dull gunmetal grey finish,
and the understated trim to the boxes containing the meeting/waiting rooms, some yellow but mostly
grey, give, in the best sense of the word, a corporate feel to the whole. It feels like the privilege it isn't
to be there. In fact many of its users are architects and others from the world of construction, whose
disputes have gone beyond angry phone calls. Relations between all the parties on this job clearly
were considerably better and the result is a harmonious building that is by a distance the best
building in the new Manchester.

The architectural expression and resolution of the environmental design sets this building apart.
Environmental sustainability has been integrated into the design from the start; natural ventilation
to all areas and a mixed-mode ventilation system serving the court rooms contributes to the BREEAM
rating of 'Excellent'. The external veil on the rear of the building of grey perforate steel shades
and conceals varied sizes of rooms behind – judges' chambers and small courts, provides solar
shading and privacy and presents a powerful urban image from afar and a successful piece
of townscape close to.

CREDITS:
Text: The Royal Institute of British Architects
Photography: Tim Griffith