ICC Permanent Premises

ICC Permanent Premises is the project that had as its main goal the construction of the permanent headquarters of the International Criminal Court (ICC).Until late 2015, the ICC was housed in interim premises in The Hague formerly belonging to KPN, provided by the host state of the Netherlands until the end of 2012. On December 14, 2015, the ICC finalized its move into its new, permanent premises, located at Oude Waalsdorperweg 10, 2597 AK, The Hague, the Netherlands.As a permanent judicial institution, the ICC requires functional permanent premises to enable the Court to execute its duties effectively and to reflect the significance of the ICC in the fight against impunity for crimes of concern to the international community. The Assembly of States Parties decided that the ICC should be provided with newly built permanent premises and the Permanent Premises Project is underway: Construction was scheduled to start in the Autumn of 2012 and to be completed towards the end of 2015, when the premises were ready for use.The Permanent Premises Project's goal was to create the optimum balance between quality, functionality and cost, providing the States Parties who established and continue to support the ICC with the best possible long term value for money.The host state (Netherlands) made the construction site available free of charge and provided a loan to finance the construction. In addition, the host state organised and financed the architectural design competition which started at the end of 2008.Three architects were chosen by an international jury from a total of 171 applicants to enter into further negotiations. The Danish firm schmidt hammer lassen were ultimately selected to design the new premises since its design met all the ICC criteria, such as design quality, sustainability, functionality and costs. In October 2012 the tendering procedure for the General Contractor was completed and the combination Visser & Smit Bouw and Boele & van Eesteren (“Courtys”) was selected for the realisation of the ICC’s Permanent Premises.