Work on the construction of Huntingdon’s new Combined Justice Centre has recently been completed and the building has been handed over to the Department for Constitutional Affairs. The new facility, which is a landmark building in Huntingdon, is situated fronting the ring road at the junction with George Street and Brampton Road. Five new court rooms have been provided; two Magistrates’ Courts, two Crown Courts and a County Court. In addition to the court rooms there are Jurors’ facilities, Judges’ rooms, public areas, court administration and cells.

The new building will replace the former Magistrates’ Court in the Old Town Hall building in the Market Square and the County Courts which were situated in Godwin House. The development has been undertaken by Nottingham based Clegg De-velopments in partnership with Cambridgeshire County Council. Clegg have also constructed new of-fices for the County Council which are adjacent to the new Court complex.

The Courts have been leased to the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and the development has been funded by Active As-set Investment Management (AAIM), a niche investor for this type of property. Clegg and the County Council have been advised throughout the development by Barker Storey Matthews who represented them in the lease negotiations with the DCA and also arranged the forward funding of the development with AAIM.

Alan Matthews of Barker Storey Matthews commented “This has been a complicated pro-ject, particularly the funding of the development due to the nature of the building, the timescale for con-struction and the sums involved”. Clegg have now commenced work on the second phase of the Town Centre redevelopment which will involve the construction of new residential accommodation on land to the north of the bus station, a new library and the refurbishment of several listed buildings.