Work starts on new Kirkcaldy court complex

Building work has started on a two court complex to hear sheriff and jury cases and custody cases in Kirkcaldy.

The £3.7m Scottish Courts & Tribunals Service (SCTS) project will consist of two new criminal courtrooms and a court custody unit which will be located within the existing Kirkcaldy police station building at St Brycedale Avenue.

Robertson Construction is the main contractor and work is estimated to take eight months to complete. The current justice of the peace court will be offered for sale on the open market.

SCTS said the creation of the new courtrooms would improve efficiency and flexibility in managing day-to-day business, increasing the number of courtrooms and providing improved accommodation for court users, including victims, witnesses and jurors.

The new complex provides the opportunity at a later stage to develop the entire building into a justice centre providing the full range of justice services from a single location.

Kirkcaldy sheriff clerk Gail Smith commented: “I am delighted that building works have now commenced, and looking forward to the forthcoming changes that will provide better facilities for those attending court.

“The court programme is also being reviewed to make the best use of court time and resources, in addition to continuing to use videoconferencing links for prisons for procedural hearings.

“Technology will allow us to manage the two sites efficiently and we will continue to promote the use of video conferencing links to prisons for procedural hearings.”

Eric McQueen, SCTS chief executive, added: “With financial support from Scottish Government we are taking this initial exciting step to improve court services within Kirkcaldy, which is consistent with our longer term ambition to establish justice centres in key locations in Scotland, including Fife.”