00:00This flagship court will make a huge difference to the delivery of justice in London.
00:07The fact that you've got a civil court, a magistrates court and a crown court all in
00:11one place as part of a new justice quarter in the heart of the city is brilliant news,
00:16particularly as we have significant backlogs in the London system, topping 20,000 cases
00:22waiting to be heard.
00:24Behind each and every one of those cases, victims waiting for justice, witnesses waiting
00:28to give their evidence, defendants waiting to give their version of events.
00:33A brand new facility like this one enables us to hear those cases efficiently, deliver
00:38swift of justice for victims and also provides a modern facility for London.
00:44When completed, the £633 million combined courthouse and police headquarters will feature 18 court
00:51rooms for jury trials, Crown and magistrate court hearings and civil disputes, as well
00:57as officers for the City of London Police and Crown Prosecution Service.
01:02The national backlog of criminal cases stands at more than 80,000, with around a quarter
01:08in London alone.
01:09Well, this was a bit of a dream some five years ago now, and we decided that we needed
01:16to have specialist courts in the City of London for cyber, for fraud, which is the fastest-growing
01:22crime in the country, and for economic crime.
01:25So we've got this purpose-built court building with an adjacent police headquarters and other
01:30commercial space as well, which is costing us around about £600 million of investment,
01:36and is due to open next year.
01:38So it's very exciting.
01:39It's a new asset.
01:40It's part of our contribution to the legal process.
01:44We've always been a city based on both financial and professional services.
01:48So the legal services we own already and run the Old Bailey, which is the only privately owned
01:55court in the United Kingdom.
01:57And this will be our second one, which we are giving effectively as a gift to the nation,
02:02because the courts and tribunal service are going to be occupying it on a peppercorn rent.
02:07I think that's one of the beauties of this scheme, is it is effectively a criminal justice
02:11scheme.
02:11So it's bringing all these elements together in one purpose-built new, brand new building.
02:17So they will integrate, they will work together, and I think that's very important and exciting
02:22development and frankly will be unique in the United Kingdom.
02:25Well, they have very separate purposes.
02:28I mean, we obviously own the Old Bailey, but that specializes in murders and, you know,
02:34really serious crime.
02:36This is dealing with the different area of expertise, which is the economic crime, as
02:42I say.
02:42But there is such a backlog of cases, of course, in the criminal justice system that this will
02:47help us to break some of that backlog as well.
02:50Well, I think it's massive.
02:52The biggest problem is fraud.
02:54Fraud is the fastest growing crime.
02:56It costs the banks in the city a huge amount of money.
02:59We have to explain today.
02:59Yeah.
