Until the early 1980s, the Crown Court sat in the Shire Hall on High Pavement.

[1] However, as the number of court cases in Nottingham grew, it became necessary to commission a more substantial courthouse for criminal matters.

The site selected by the Lord Chancellor's Department on Canal Street was occupied by a row of shops (including a baker's shop owned by the amateur astronomer, Thomas Bush)[2] and an old canal-side factory.

[3] The new building was designed by architects, P. Harvard, K. Bates and J. Mansell, on behalf of the Property Services Agency and faced with buff stone.

[7] The design involved a glass atrium which projected forward, connecting two wings which were faced with extensive expanses of stone.