The WA State Government has appointed Cox Howlett & Bailey Woodland to design Carnarvon’s new $52million Police and Justice Complex.

The building will accommodate courts, tribunals and registry, a community justice service centre, a police station and a shared custody facility.

Cox Howlett & Bailey Woodland won the tender after an evaluation of five bids by the Department of Treasury and Finance’s Building Management and Works division.

The company will partner Paterson Group Architects which has a permanent office in Carnarvon.

Cox Howlett and Bailey Woodland have previously worked on new courts in Perth, Fremantle and Rockingham and police facilities in Bunbury, and are multiple award winners.

The Albany Entertainment Centre by Cox Howlett & Bailey Woodland in association with Roberts Gardiner recently won an Architecture Award in the Pubic Architecture category in the Australian Institute of Architects' 2011 Western Australian Architecture Awards: Image: Alison Paine

Final designs for the Carnarvon complex are expected by the end of the year with building due to start in January 2013 and be completed by October 2014.

Treasurer and Attorney General Christian Porter said the company had a long and successful track record in designing similar buildings in Perth and regional Western Australia.

“This complex will provide greatly improved police, court and corrections facilities and deliver a distinctive and impressive new civic building to Carnarvon and the district,” Porter said.

Police Minister Rob Johnson said the new complex would provide Carnarvon police with an important link to the courthouse to enable better management of offenders.

“The new facilities and equipment at the station will be purpose-built for modern policing, helping local police continue the excellent work they have been doing to protect the community in this district,” Johnson said.

Porter said the complex was a collaborative project between five State Government agencies with the support of the local government and community. It will be built at the corner of Robinson Street and Babbage Island Road.