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

It was also intended that the building would become the venue for civil cases hearings, which had previously taken place in the old Assembly Rooms in Queen Street.

[2][3] The site selected by the Lord Chancellor's Department, on the east side of Pipers Row, had been occupied by a piece of land known in the 19th century as "Tomkys Yard" which had been occupied by a furniture store owned by Alexander Sloan & Company in the early 20th century.

[4][5] The new building was designed by Norman and Dawbarn in the Modernist style, built in alternating bands of light and dark brown brick at a cost of £9.2 million,[6] and was completed in 1990.

The central section was formed by a large recess giving access to a full-height atrium fronted by a single-storey steel-framed canopy which projected forward.