A few months ago, the sign reading “Shura Council” was put on the walls of one of the imposing buildings of Riad El-Solh Square, hinting at the relocation of Shura Council headquarters from its current location at the Palace of Justice. Indeed, work has begun to re-divide and rearrange the building, originally designed to be a hotel, so it will match the Shura Council’s needs. 

Calling for a New Headquarters 

The Palace of Justice building was constructed in the early 1960s, when the number of judicial magistrates was 200. But today the number is around 650 judges, with more than 200 working in Beirut Mohafaza. In 2000, the number of Shura Council’s staff increased to 98 judges instead of 50, and to 50 officers instead of 20, although the area of the fifth floor of the Palace of Justice where the Council is currently located is no more than 600 m2, an average of 5 m2 of space for each judge or officer, which is very small.
With the number of judges and officials far outstripping the space allocated them, many studies were conducted to set up new headquarters for the Council on state-owned land at a cost of no more than USD 9.1 million. 

Renting a New Building 

The plans of constructing a new building were never implemented. Instead, a new building was rented at Riad El-Solh Square with no official figures about its rental costs. However, there are rumors that the annual rental costs are about LBP 1 billion, which means that for a 13-year rental period, the costs would be sufficient to establish a state-owned building.