The new $91.5 million Forensic Pathology and Coroner’s Court the NSW Government is building at Lidcombe will incorporate world’s best practice design and be double the size of the current Glebe facility. Health Minister Jillian Skinner and Attorney General Gabrielle Upton today unveiled new fly-through footage that reveals the spaciousness of the Lidcombe complex.

The purpose-built facility will be constructed on the old Lidcombe Hospital site along Joseph Street. It will include four large courtrooms for coronial hearings and a better working environment for coronial and forensic medicine teams. Mrs Skinner said the development will be a major improvement on the Glebe facility, where forensic services and the Coroner’s Court have operated for more than 30 years. “The Lidcombe facility will deliver a modern workplace for our professional staff who help deliver answers to families about thousands of unexpected and unexplained deaths and disappearances each year,” Mrs Skinner said.

Ms Upton said integrating the state’s coronial and forensic pathology services on one large purpose-built site will provide effective justice services now and into the future.“The new state-of-the-art complex will improve forensic and coronial services in NSW and continue to provide closure and justice for victims of crime and their families,” Ms Upton said.

Site preparation works will begin this year and, subject to approvals, main construction works will begin in 2017. The new facilities are expected to be up and running by 2019. No decisions have been made at this stage regarding the future of the current site at Glebe, which will be decommissioned after the new facilities are operational.

The 2016-17 NSW Budget included a $4 million boost towards continued planning for the project, which is a joint initiative between NSW Health and the NSW Department of Justice.

Watch the fly-through footage