Digital court facility HMP Pentonville

Amey delivers a wide range of project work across its UK FM, Justice and Defence portfolio. This capability integrates the business’s in-depth knowledge of public estates and its project management expertise - ensuring long-term value and assured delivery for clients.

Project: Digital court facility HMP Pentonville
Client: MOJ and HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS)
Timeframe: 3 months 

The challenge

The Amey Secure Infrastructure team has successfully completed a project to upgrade the digital court facilities at HMP Pentonville.  

The project was delivered as part of the MOJ and HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) strategy to help reduce unnecessary court attendance. The solution provided by Amey will result in cost efficiencies across the service and a reduction in the risk associated with the transportation of prisoners – both in relation to COVID 19 and associated disturbance.  

Our response 

We worked closely with the MOJ major project team and staff at HMP Pentonville to develop a robust project management framework and plan.  

Due to the prison environment's secure nature, a modular construction solution was selected, allowing the build to occur off-site. This solution reduced the project timeframe, cost and environmental impact while minimised disruption to custodial services. 

Our supply chain partner Ellison AC completed the off-site assembly of the two-storey modular digital court facility in a single location and foundation groundworks were undertaken by partner PMA at the prison to prepare the site for delivery.  

Once assembled, the modular digital court facility was delivered to HMP Pentonville and lifted into place by a 530-ton crane from outside the prison walls onto the pre-prepared foundation located within a courtyard area of the prison.  

This stage of the project had to be carefully managed and involved close collaboration with multiple stakeholders: 

• Engaging with TfL on the closure of major travel and bus routes into central London. 
• Working with the local authority’s highways team to ensure road and utility assets wouldn’t be damaged by the crane's weight while undertaking the lift.  
• Liaising with the prison security team to develop and agree on several process and safety protocols. 
• Developing a safe communication process and a clear set of commands with the crane driver - as their view of the location was totally obscured by the prison wall during the lowering of the digital court into place.  

Once lifted into place, the Amey team mobilised and commissioned the new digital court facility ready for use. The team installed utilities, power and CCTV security - ensuring the assets were correctly recorded on the Computer-Aided Facility Management system (CAFM) for maintenance and compliance auditing purposes.  

Outcomes 

• State of the art video court facilities to support MOJ and HMCTS digital strategy 
• The facility can be transportable to other locations if needed 
• Single site modular construction and local workforce minimised carbon footprint throughout the process due to reduction in travel  
• Energy cost saving through LED lighting solutions 
• Minimal operational impact to custodial services and security 
• Reduction in overall project time by up to 50% 
• Zero work time accidents and security incidents