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

The site chosen, which was close to the guildhall but on the opposite side of St Helen's Road, had been occupied by an old tramway depot.

[2] The new building was designed by the Welsh architect Sir Alex Gordon in the neoclassical style, built in concrete at a cost of £5.2 million, and was completed in 1988.

[3][4][5][6][7] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of eleven bays facing onto St Helen's Road.

[10] Notable cases have included the trial and wrongful conviction, now recognised as a serious miscarriage of justice, of Yusef Abdullahi, Stephen Miller and Tony Paris, in November 1990, for the murder of Lynette White.