Edinburgh Sheriff Court
Edinburgh Sheriff Court is a sheriff court in Chambers Street in Edinburgh, Scotland, within the sheriffdom of Edinburgh and Borders.
History
Until the mid-1990s, hearings took place in the Old Sheriff Court in the Lawnmarket. However, as the number of court cases in Edinburgh grew, it became necessary to commission a modern courthouse for criminal matters. The site that court officials selected had previously been occupied by a part of Heriot-Watt University.The new courthouse was designed by John Kirkwood Wilson of PSA Projects, built in buff sandstone at a cost of £47 million, and was officially opened to the public by the sheriff principal, Gordon Nicholson, in September 1994. The Cowgate elevation is eight storeys high, and public access to the building is from Chambers Street at the fourth level, which is at street level when accessed from Chambers Street, owing to the steep terrain of Edinburgh's Old Town. Internally, the building was laid out to accommodate 16 courtrooms.