Consortium also involving HOK, Aecom and Parsons Brinkerhoff appointed for refurbishment of historic court building

The entrance to the Old Bailey

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A consortium led by Interserve has won a £32m contract to refurbish the Old Bailey.

The team, which also includes architect HOK, Aecom and Parsons Brinkerhoff, was selected just before Christmas and will start work later in the new year,

According to construction data analyst Barbour ABI, Interserve’s team was up against rival consortiums led by Skanska and Mitie.

London’s Grade-I listed Central Criminal Court opened in 1907 and is now in need of major modernisation.

The job will involve work on the building’s well-known entrance to make it more accessible plus repairing and reconfiguring the whole 10,700 sq m structure as services are upgraded.

The contract, for the building’s owner the Corporation of London, runs until the middle of 2023 because the 18 courts – which handle 1,500 of the country’s most serious criminal cases a year – can only be closed a pair at a time.

The Old Bailey is on the former site of London’s notorious Newgate Prison. There is still a hatch to the lost River Fleet beneath the basement and a section of Londinium’s original Roman wall is also visible.