Metal Technology supplied System 17 Hi+ curtain walling, System 4-35 Hi+ casement windows and System 10-35 Hi+ thermally broken commercial doors for Thames Valley Police’s new Forensic Services Centre in Bicester. Installed by Dudley’s Aluminium for Willmott Dixon, and designed by AtkinsRéalis, the façade package serves a purpose-built, three-storey hub of around 4,700m². The building is the main base for TVP’s Forensic Investigation Unit, bringing laboratories, digital forensics, crime scene investigation and training together on force-owned land near Avonbury Business Park. high-use operational facility. Willmott Dixon completed the centre in summer 2026. The scheme targeted BREEAM Excellent and was one of the force’s first opportunities to push a new building as close to net zero as the budget would allow.
Metal Technology’s high-performance aluminium systems made that openness possible. System 17 Hi+ and System 4-35 Hi+ provided the thermal performance required for large glazed areas. On elevations at risk of overheating, extended cover caps on selected mullions cut solar gain while The centre replaces facilities that had reached the end of their economic life and gathers laboratories, digital forensics, crime-scene investigation and training under one roof. That consolidation was as much an estates decision as a scientific one: the force needed modern accommodation, room to grow, and a workplace that could hold about 175 to 200 people.
AtkinsRéalis organised the plan around a full-height atrium. Floor-to-ceiling glazing pulls daylight deep into the building and keeps workplaces in contact with the Oxfordshire landscape. Roof terraces and landscaped breakout space support wellbeing in a building that also has to function as a secure, keeping the façade slim and civic. System 10-35 Hi+ commercial doors complete a robust, thermally broken envelope suited to a secure public building.
When the scheme ran over budget, Metal Technology and Dudley’s Aluminium value-engineered the façade so the project could continue. Daylight, thermal performance and overheating control were held. The result is a brighter, more efficient forensic workplace, and a reminder that certified systems and close fabricator collaboration can keep a complex public project on track.
Metal Technology designs and supplies architectural aluminium window, door and curtain walling systems for commercial, public and mixed-use buildings across the UK and Ireland. Established in 1985 and based in Antrim, the company works through an approved fabricator network on workplaces, civic buildings, education, student accommodation, healthcare and other high-use commercial envelopes where daylight, thermal performance and a clean elevation have to sit together. The Bicester forensic centre is of that type: a commercial-grade façade on a secure public building, specified and value-engineered so the architecture could stay open without losing comfort or control of solar gain. metaltechnology.com