The Australian architects responsible for designing Manchester's award-winning civil justice centre has said it has been appointed to design Birmingham's new magistrates' court.
 In a press release on the company's website, Denton Corker Marshall said the building is expected to be completed and occupied before the end of 2012.
 Based in the city centre the 20,000 sq m building will house 24courts over 15 storeys, DCM said.
 Alan Eccles, HMCS Midlands regional director, was quoted as saying the appointment was a "significant step in the procurement process".
  He added: "Theproject to provide a new building for Birmingham Magistrates Court isa key element of the Regional Estates Strategy which will provide muchneeded, significantly improved facilities for court users."
 Denton Corker Marshall director Stephen Quinlan said: "Weare delighted to be working on another court project. We very much lookforward to working with the HMCS again, following our successfulworking relationship on the Manchester Civil Justice Centre.
 The Manchester CJC project was DCM's first in the UK. The firm won the a Royal Australian Institute of Architects' award for the scheme.
 According to the locally-run Birmingham Eastside blog, the total cost of the Birmingham court scheme is 81 million pounds excluding VAT.