The Caernarfon Criminal Justice Centre is a

Crown Court The Crown Court is the criminal trial court, court of first instance in England and Wales responsible for hearing all indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals of the decisions of magistrates' courts. It is ...

venue, which deals with criminal cases, in Llanberis Road,

Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a List of place names with royal patronage in the United Kingdom, royal town, Community (Wales), community and port in Gwynedd, Wales. It has a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the easter ...

, Wales.

History

Until the early 21st century, criminal court hearings in Caernarfon were held in the County Hall at Castle Ditch. However, as the number of court cases in Caernarfon grew, it became necessary to commission a more modern courthouse for criminal matters: the site selected in Llanberis Road had been occupied by Segontium School, which had dated from 1912 but which had closed in 2005. Work on the new building started in May 2007, when the

Lord Chancellor The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The lord chancellor is the minister of justice for England and Wales and the highest-ra ...

Lord Falconer Charles Leslie Falconer, Baron Falconer of Thoroton, (born 19 November 1951) is a British Labour politician, peer and barrister who served as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice under Prime Minister Tony Blair from 2003 to 20 ...

, cut the first sod. It was designed by Austin-Smith:Lord in the

Modernist style Modern architecture, also called modernist architecture, or the modern movement, is an architectural movement and style that was prominent in the 20th century, between the earlier Art Deco and later postmodern movements. Modern architecture wa ...

, built by

Balfour Beatty Balfour Beatty plc () is an international infrastructure group based in the United Kingdom with capabilities in construction services, support services and infrastructure investments. A constituent of the FTSE 250 Index, the company is active ac ...

in dark blue and red brick at a cost of £12 million and was completed in May 2009. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage facing onto Llanberis Road. The plan involved two wings, one intended for the offices and the other for the courtrooms. The left hand section was built in dark blue brick and was fenestrated with single, bi-partite and tri-partite

casement window A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges at the side. They are used singly or in pairs within a common frame, in which case they are hinged on the outside. Casement windows are often held open using a c ...

s on two floors, while the right hand section, which was projected forward, was built in red brick and featured a grey stone-clad

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

on the left with Royal coat of arms at first floor level above, and a large expanse of glazing on the right. Internally, the building was laid out to accommodate four courtrooms. The design was commended in the BREEAM Awards for Wales in 2009. The building was subsequently sold to London & Capital Group and leased back from that company under a private developer scheme initiative. Notable cases included the trial and conviction of Colin Milburn, in November 2022, for the murder of his long-term partner, Buddug Jones.

References

{{reflist Caernarfon Crown Court buildings Government buildings completed in 2009 Court buildings in Wales