New justice building to be among the tallest in Fredericton

The new courthouse in downtown Fredericton will be one of the tallest buildings in the city after a height variance was approved Wednesday at a special meetingof the planning advisory committee.

Work is expected to begin by the end of November on the $60-million courthouse going up on King Street between Regent and Carleton streets. The space is currently a parking lot.

At 32.9 metres tall, the justice buildingwill have the equivalent of 11 storeys, about the same height as Frederick Square, also known as the TD Tower.

But the building will actually have onlysix storeys to accommodate the courtrooms, which need to be higher than regularstoreys.

"The higher ceiling height allows proper lines of sight for the judiciary and the jury that sit on raised platforms and also allows for elevated camera mounting positions and video screens," said Tony Dakiv, senior planner with the city.

As a tradeoff for the extra height, the New Brunswick governmentwill have to provide a "community benefit" under the city's built-form design guidelines. The guidelines ask for a piece of public art or a community space in exchange fora height variance.

Architect Daniel Ling of Montgomery Sisam, one of the architectural firms involved in the project, said therequirement will be met by a plaza at the entrance to the building, with a public space that will include trees and benches.

"The intent is to create a number of masonry benches along the north edge of the plaza, so when someone steps up the sidewalk into the plaza there is a space for seating," Ling said.

"The intent is to create some human scale as you're in the plaza, so there's a sense of place. So the intent would be to have trees as part of the design of that plaza that has a canopy that is maybe at a one-storey height at almost the same height as the canopy of the building to provide some shade, but also to give it a sense of scale."

Coun. Cassandra Blackmore, a member of the planning advisory committee, said the plaza space was a welcome addition to the streetscape.

"I think this is going to be an exceptional building," she said."It's going to draw people to the city of Fredericton, and it's going to be, you know, a very iconic building in our downtown core."

Earlier this year, the city bought the site in a deal with Commercial Properties Ltd. for $8.2 million. The city then sold about 25 per cent of the property to the province for $2.4 million for the new justice building.

The rest of the land has been earmarked for a performing arts centre and a residential development.

The courthouse will include a detention area, offices for sheriffs, a lobby, security screening area, two hearing rooms, a police office and accommodations for judges.

It will also have spaces for victim services, legal aid, family court services, court client services, Crown prosecutors, probation services, a barristers'library and suite, and the offices of the registrar of the New Brunswick Court ofAppeal.