Melbourne Justice Centre
Client
Department of Justice and Community Safety
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Value
AUD $30M
The Melbourne Justice Centre is an example of Jackson Architecture's experience in complex programmatic planning. The project occupies an existing CBD building now shared by Corrections Victoria and the Department of Justice. The design involved consolidating Corrections Victoria’s administration facilities, which were previously dispersed across Melbourne’s CBD and Carlton.
The building is programmatically split between the Melbourne Justice Centre on lower levels, with chambers, offices and training spaces for the Adult Parole Board, Post Sentencing Authority, and other department offices above. Space was also needed for the Specialist Offender Assessment and Treatment team.
The project had numerous planning challenges; the brief required public and offender facing facilities with separate circulation routes, accommodated within an existing 17-storey office building. A bank of four existing lifts are utilised for custody and judicial staff. Three points of entries are designated for use by judicial staff, Corrections Victoria staff and public access.
Reception areas were technically detailed to meet security guidelines. A public hearing room with public access, custodial access, an attached holding cell, and dedicated access for the Parole Board all had to be fitted within the existing building envelope.
Inclusions
- Public foyer with waiting area and lockers;
- Two secure reception counters for separate entrances;
- High risk and low risk hearing rooms (multiple exits), with video conferencing capability (to video conference into prisons and other Justice Service Centres);
- Interview and program rooms for parolee reporting;
- Separate pre-hearing waiting area with secure offender toilets;
- Rooms to search offenders;
- Secure holding cell with secure access to basement parking;
- Discrete and secure access / exit for Victoria Police, the Adult Parole Board and Departmental Staff Sheriff’s parking, change rooms and storage facilities;
- Permanent operational emergency command centre;
- Security Access Control and Intruder Detection System;
- CCTV Video Surveillance System; and
- Rectangular shaped program rooms with observation rooms for Sexual Offender Treatment programs.
