President Cyril Ramaphosa with acting Gauteng premier and basic education MEC Panyaza Lesufi officially opened the Booysens Magistrates’ Court, for which Arup provided transport, civil and structural engineering services, in Oakdene, Johannesburg on 28 March 2019.
Arup, as part of a design team jointly led by Co-Arc International Architects and Consultium Architects and Urban Designers, delivered the R200m court as an example of a new generation of creatively designed governmental buildings. The building is built to be welcoming to the public, with large open spaces and user-friendly public furniture.
The court offers a range of services to reduce the load on existing courts and is equipped with a sexual offences court to support victims of gender-based violence and femicide. President Ramaphosa also signed a Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) Declaration with civil society organisations’ representatives at the opening.
Arup staff Sam Porter, structural engineer; Taona Shumba, civil engineer and Richard Lawson, Arup Johannesburg structures team leader attended the opening event.
Porter says, “It was a pleasure to see our many hours of design in use at the opening. From the large scale of the open central atrium to the finer details of the unusual cantilevering benches throughout the public space.”
“The day was made even more significant that the opening was used as stage for the critical issue of gender-based violence. Supporting action on this aligns closely with Arup values and our work towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals.” adds Lawson.