KATE NEWTON
Hastings' new courthouse, expected to be finished by the end of next year, will be three times larger than the existing building, the concept design revealed yesterday shows.
With four courtrooms, mediation and hearing rooms and larger waiting areas for the public, the new building will be next to the current one on the corner of Eastbourne Street West and Market Street South.
Courts Minister and Hastings-based List MP Rick Barker yesterday revealed the initial concept designs to help people visualise the end result, he said.
Mr Barker said building it would take 18 months once clearance work started near the middle of this year. The $9 million estimated to build the courthouse was allocated in the May 2005 budget.
"As the concept designs show it will be a much bigger and better courthouse," Mr Barker said.
The design plan shows the building will be about 3300sq m, much bigger than the existing courthouse, which is about 1100sq m.
The present Hastings courthouse was built in 1972 and does not have a family court or facilities to hold jury trials.
All Hastings jury trials are sent over to Napier but that won't be necessary come 2009, with the inclusion of a jury-capable court in the plans.
As well as five judges' chambers and one JP space, the new courthouse will have a space for the coroner to work, which will become important when changes to New Zealand's coronial system kick in later this year.
A coroner in Hastings and Napier will be replaced by one coroner covering Central Hawke's Bay through to Gisborne.
The building will also be one of the first courthouses in the country to be built in an ecologically responsible way, as part of a Ministry for the Environment initiative to ensure public sector organisations are setting an example.
The rebuild of the Hastings Courthouse is part of the Government's court rebuilding programme, the largest of it's kind in history, Mr Barker said.
Greymouth and Queenstown recently opened their new courthouses and extensions are being carried out to courthouses throughout New Zealand.
"The courthouse is a key public building for the Hastings community, which many people will use," Mr Barker said.
"We want to ensure that new courthouse promotes access to justice for the whole community."
TOP STORY: HB court supersizes
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.