Today, President Egils Levits officially opened the reconstructed Zemgale District Court building in Tukums, at Pils iela 16, in a ceremonial event. The existing court building, built back in 1882, underwent a facade reconstruction, interior redesign and rebuilding, as well as replacement of engineering communications, while the newly built wing now houses courtrooms equipped with modern technology, including videoconferencing and sound recording equipment. Following the reconstruction, the building’s usable floor area has doubled. This makes it possible to also accommodate the court’s Land Register division together with its archive, thereby successfully implementing the reform under which Land Register division judges are to be fully integrated into the district (city) courts. The project’s client and funder is the State joint-stock company “Tiesu namu aģentūra”, which is pleased both with the quality of the project and with its completion on schedule.
“In this project we implemented a ‘design – build’ approach, where design and construction work are carried out by a single contractor. This approach, widely used in the US and Western countries, allows for a shorter construction process, reduces the client’s risks and clearly defines the responsibilities of the parties involved, as well as allowing better forecasting of the overall construction costs. At the same time, this is already the third project commissioned by TNA in which Building Information Modeling (BIM) has been used in the design and implementation process. I would also like to specifically commend the successful cooperation with the contractor – the general partnership ‘Velve un Campaign’ – which carried out the work strictly on schedule, to a proper standard of quality, while also ensuring that the court’s work was not interrupted during the project’s implementation,” notes Santa Sausiņa, Board Member of the client – VAS “Tiesu namu aģentūra”.
Minister of Justice Jānis Bordāns emphasizes that the larger premises and greater number of courtrooms will allow the Zemgale District Court to organize its work in Tukums more efficiently, since the new court house now has five courtrooms in place of the previous three, while the floor area has doubled. Opening the renovated court house in Tukums, the Minister wished the historic and new premises to serve with honor the people who have contributed funds to the rule of law.
“On completing this project, we are pleased with what has been achieved – a modern, functional building has been created, while preserving its unique historical appearance. Building publicly significant buildings is both a great challenge and a great source of satisfaction, as it allows us to give new life to important historical structures, honoring values that have been cultivated for decades. We wish that this building serves its chosen purpose for the next 100 years, that this court house sees justice served fairly, that wise and well-considered decisions are made here, and that this building becomes a symbol that courts in Latvia are modern and accessible to every resident of Latvia!” says Toms Reiziņš, Board Member of SIA VELVE.
The existing court building had deteriorated both technically and visually, and the most pressing issue was a shortage of working space, including archive space, for court staff, judges and visitors. The reconstruction addressed these shortcomings, changed the building’s layout to match the specifics of court work, and included the installation of new sewerage, water supply, low-voltage and electrical power systems, as well as replacement of the heating main. Meanwhile, the newly built section houses courtrooms equipped with modern technology that fully meet the layout requirements for court buildings – the judges’ working area is functionally separated from the public, or visitor, area, and, with the safety of court visitors and staff in mind, a separate zone for escorting detainees has been created.
The new building also houses the archive, the court house’s registry office, a reading room and a consultation room for the defense; new holding cells have been built to ensure suitable short-term accommodation for defendants within the court building, a break room for the escort service, and accessibility of the court house environment has been improved by installing a lift providing access to the courtrooms on the second floor.
The project was planned and carried out under difficult conditions, without interrupting the court’s work and without disturbing the operation of the neighboring Tukums Music School.
The project’s client and funder is VAS “Tiesu namu aģentūra”, which continues to work purposefully on managing, maintaining and administering the real estate held by the Ministry of Justice, including the reconstruction of court houses and the construction of new ones. The goal of the Tukums court house reconstruction was to modernize the court’s work and improve the court’s accessibility for visitors, in line with modern requirements.
Safety standards in the building meet modern requirements – so that residents, including people with mobility impairments, as well as judges, court staff and escort officers, can all feel safe.
Reconstruction and construction of the extension began on 28 March 2017, and on 9 July of this year the construction work on both the new court building and the reconstruction of the existing court building was accepted by the State Construction Control Bureau. On 20 January 2017, a contract was concluded with the general partnership “Velve un Campaign” as the contractor for the design and construction of the reconstruction of the administrative building at Pils iela 16, Tukums. The total cost of the project was EUR 2,663,306.34, including VAT.
The State joint-stock company Tiesu namu aģentūra (TNA) was established in 1997. TNA is a commercial company whose shares are 100% owned by the state. TNA’s core activities include managing, maintaining and administering the real estate held by the Ministry of Justice, ensuring the operation of IT infrastructure, as well as publishing legal training and educational literature, legal acts and compilations thereof, and compilations of court rulings.
Additional information:
Santa Sausiņa,
Board Member of TNA
Phone: +371 6780 4733
E-mail: santa.sausina@tna.lv