The abatement for non-availability of the courts themselves is limited

1.14  The mechanism for calculating the abatement for non-availability is based on the number of rooms and zones in the Laganside Courts complex. Three months prior to practical completion the precise floor areas should have been calculated to include the area per room, weighted area per room and total weighted area. This was not finalised until November 2001, only a month before the new Courthouse was delivered to the Service. Figure 6 shows the typical abatement to the availability element of the unitary charge if a particular type of room is unavailable for one hour after being reported. The non-availability of a standard Crown Courtroom would reduce the service payment by approximately £18 an hour, less than £150 a day. Such a deduction for non-availability seems limited and unlikely to be commensurate with the abortive costs associated with the postponement of proceedings for a day.