Glasgow and Strathkelvin Sheriff Court, Including Control Room, Terracing, Hardstanding and Boundary Wall, Glasgow, Glasgow

Description

Keppie Henderson and Partners, 1972-1986 (architect, Richard De'Ath; civil and structural engineer, Ove Arup and Partners; main contractor, Sir Robert McAlpine and Sons Ltd; landscape architects, William Gillespie and Partners). Modern, purpose-built, monumental civic court building prominently set on S bank of River Clyde, housing all court functions for Scottish Court Service for Glasgow and Strathkelvin (see Notes). Separate control room building and plant in terraced grounds.

DESCRIPTION: 6-storey, 8- and 13-bay, symmetrical, rectangular-plan, extensive court building surrounded by concrete parapet, with concourse and terracing and 8 metre high moat (3 storeys sunk below raised hard standing ground level). Heavy overhanging horizontal upper storey leading into symmetrical slender floating columns interspersed by narrow vertical strip metal windows. Porticoed principal entrance to centre of N elevation. Extensive glazing at garden level to N facing River Clyde.

Reinforced concrete frame. Entrance entablature and column facings of polished pink-grey granite slabs with honed fine finished and deep recessed banded ashlar sandstone cladding. Stretcher bond stone brick base course to oversized battered concrete cope enclosing moat. Accommodation includes administration, sheriffs' and police offices, 24 courtrooms (of various function), prisoner receiving areas, sheriffs' library, staff and visitor restaurants and plant room, visitor receiving areas, stores and security vehicle entrance check point station. N (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: 13-bays. Main entrance and portico to central bay with carved negative relief granite coat of arms above entrance doors. Glass and steel rectangular box spanning 3 bays at 6th floor, additional glazing on lower floors to provide views from canteen over landscaped garden and River Clyde. E ELEVATION: 8 bays facing Gorbals Street. S ELEVATION: 13 bays, views over dedicated car park and Norfolk Street. W ELEVATION: similar to E, with views over security vehicle entrance and parking from Nicholson Street.

Predominantly sheet glass in metal framed windows throughout. Asphalt flat roof with protruding vents and plant, integral rainwater goods, solar panels (added 2008).

INTERIOR: a hierarchically arranged symmetrical grid plan with custody and police areas to lower ground floors, courtrooms to floors 1-5 and plantrooms to upper floors. Reception with portico relief sculpture of St Mungo by Jake Kempsell above main desk. Glass-roofed atrium to 6th floor. Late Arts and Crafts and Mackintosh-inspired detailing to fittings and fixtures throughout, stainless steel main staircase, decorative screens to left and right of entrance reception. Concrete coffered ceilings to rooms. Central backlit hanging clock in gallery. High specification to all materials throughout building. Hardwoods for most fittings include Wenge from Zaire, Japanese Sun Ash, American White Oak, with English Brown Oak used in the office of the Sheriff Principal. Terrazzo floors to main court areas.

Police and custody areas on lower levels of plain, robust, utilitarian design (see Notes), with white painted quarry tiles to floors and walls of police area. Prevalent use of stainless steel fittings. Extensive custody and police area, including cells and solid core doors which swing out throughout entire building. Observation cells, interview rooms, urinals, service hatches. Sheriffs accommodation on upper levels, including robing rooms, dining room, common room and library. Plant room to levels 5 and 6...

CONTROL ROOM: wedge plan incident control room (to SW of court building at entrance gates) faced with aggregate concrete panels with canted roof. Hydraulic pop-up barriers at top of ramp providing access to police parking and custody holding area at basement level. Horizontal glazing.

TERRACING AND HARD STANDING: hard standing on all sides and paved in concrete aggregate panels. Low rise steps to NE and NW boundary provide access to landscaped terracing.

Statement of Interest

Glasgow Sheriff Court by Keppie Henderson and Partners, 1972-1986 is a monumental and significant example of late-Brutalist architecture and an important public commission for a bespoke combined civil and criminal case court building by leading Scottish architectural practice, Keppie Henderson and Partners. The Glasgow Sheriff Court is an important transitional building that bridges late modernist megastructural and functionalist design with a fortified exterior and carefully tailored decorative interior. It was and remains the largest civil facility in Europe with the ability to accommodate 3000 users per day. The building evokes a fortified exterior with solid, geometric and grid-like proportions, integrating highly functional multi-disciplinary court services. The blunt and late Brutalist monumentality and architectural forms are tempered by the application of high quality and luxurious materials such as polished granite and exotic timber. The interior public layout is simple with minimal decoration, employing mass, scale and light as artistic expression and deliberate contrast with the stark exterior of the building to emphasise the fortification and security of the building. The custody areas are designed for function, privacy, speed, processing and visitor welfare.

The interior scheme clearly references the later designs of C R Mackintosh such as Derngate, Nothampton, and invokes a link to Keppie Henderson's famous past partner, while pointing towards a particularly Scottish trend in post-modern design. Earlier influences on the Sheriff Court building include Denys Lasdun's major projects of the 1960s and early 1970s, and international public commissions such as the 1962-7 Boston City Hall, by Kallmann McKinnell and Knowles. In Scotland, the Sheriff Court was one of a select number of high profile public commissions begun in the 1970s and completed in the 1980s, such as the Burrell Collection in Glasgow which was also designed as a megastructure but to a completely different brief.

The Property Services Agency (PSA) of the Department of the Environment were asked in 1972 by the Scottish Courts Administration to consider providing courts and accommodation used by other government departments under one roof (although the design team had been appointed earlier in 1970). In 1974, due to procedural change and lack of adequate space, there was an order to reorganise the Sheriffdom of Glasgow, and by 1 April 1975 there was a decision to establish the District of Glasgow and Strathkelvin as one area of administration. Keppie Henderson architects were appointed to solve the design issue, with Richard De'Ath leading on the project on behalf of the firm. John Bull, Principal Architect in the Directorate of Scottish Services for the PSA, coordinated the construction of the building after the design was agreed. The offices and facilities were to be well appointed for both legal and public users, with efficient conduct of court business key, as well as acoustic design and leading office technology.

Construction was carried out from June 1981 to January 1986 on the site of the 18th century Church of John Knox and some tenement dwellings constructed pre-1893, all of which were demolished. The topping out ceremony took place on 28 September 1983. The courts were fitted out and in use by May 1986, officially opened by the Queen in June 1986.

Architect Richard De'Ath personally took meticulous care in selecting the stone for the Glasgow Sheriff Court and travelled to the various quarries to ensure quality. The granite used on the exterior of the building came from Moseløkke Quarry, Isle of Bornholm, Denmark and was used for the first time as building slabs in this commission. The exterior sandstone came from Cat Castle Quarry, County Durham, which was reopened to procure this stone and was selected to compliment the polished granite.

Richard Rudolf Chitham De'Ath (1927-2011) was born in Meltham, West Yorkshire. He attended the School of Architecture at Strathclyde University. While at Keppie Henderson and Partners, De'Ath led on a number of important commissions for the practice such as the Burgh of Ayr Infectious Diseases Hospital and Stirling Infirmary Outpatients and Casualty Department. He was involved in various school, college and university buildings commissions such as contributions to University of Glasgow and Jordanhill College. The design team was formed in 1970, prior to the formation of the PSA, and De'Ath was appointed chief architect of the Glasgow Sheriff Court.

Keppie Henderson and Partners first began as the practice of Honeyman and Keppie, a partnership between John Honeyman and John Keppie which started in 1888. Charles Rennie Mackintosh was taken into partnership in 1901 and the practice title became Honeyman Keppie & Mackintosh. When Honeyman retired in 1901 and Mackintosh withdrew from the practice in 1914, John Keppie was a sole partner until Andrew Graham Henderson joined in 1916 and the practice title then became John Keppie & Henderson, later shortened to Keppie Henderson. In 1958 the Keppie firm became Keppie Henderson & Partners with Richard De'Ath as one of the leading partners.

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