The site selected by the Lord Chancellor's Department, on the north side of Lansdowne Road, was open land which had once been occupied by a group of allotment gardens.

[3] The new building was designed by Fitzroy Robinson & Partners in the Modernist style, built in brown-blue brick from Staffordshire at a cost of £380,000 and was completed in 1972.

[4][5][6] The design involved a low-set, "strongly horizontal" structure facing onto Lansdowne Road.

[7] Notable cases have included the trial and conviction of a car mechanic, Daniel Appleton, in December 2020, for the murder of his wife and a neighbour.

[8][9][10] They have also included the trial and conviction of a builder, Mark Brown, for the murders of Alexandra Morgan and Leah Ware.