Thames Valley Police has selected Willmott Dixon to deliver a new Bicester forensics centre, as Wates’ £200m life sciences building at the University of Oxford tops out
The £200m Life and Mind Building at the University of Oxford has completed its concrete structure, whilst Willmott Dixon has secured the contract to deliver a new Bicester forensics centre.
Bicester forensics centre is first step in Thames Valley Police investment programme
The purpose-built centre in Bicester will become the main forensics hub for the force, containing laboratories, new digital technologies and dedicated training facilities.
The Forensic Improvement Programme will see significant investment over the next three years to transform Thames Valley Police’s forensic services, improving investigations and the outcomes for victims.
Cherwell District Council’s planning committee recently granted planning permission for the new forensic centre on force-owned land near Avonbury Business Park on Howes Lane, subject to the completion of a Section 106 agreement.
The new Bicester forensics centre will drive investigations and resolve more crimes
Kay Hannam, head of forensic services at Thames Valley Police, said: “Forensic science can be the key to an investigation, in getting a case to court and delivering a timely outcome for the victim. This critical investment will support forensic services across the board from adopting new technologies, developing our people and ensuring legitimacy into the criminal justice system.
“Underpinning this programme of growth is our proposed new purpose built accommodation that will bring specialisms together under one roof. Here we will have the flexibility to expand our services to meet existing and future demand.
“This will be particularly important in areas such as digital forensics where we are seeing significant increases in demand and complexity year on year.
“It is an ambitious programme but it is an exciting time for Thames Valley’s forensic unit. Once complete it will provide our officers, partner organisations and most importantly our victims with market leading, cost effective and high quality services.”
Construction at the University of Oxford’s Life and Mind Building (LaMB) has reached its latest major milestone, with the circa 270,000 sq ft reinforced concrete structure now complete.
The scheme is being delivered by Oxford University Development (OUD), the £4bn partnership between Legal & General and the University of Oxford.
When delivery is completed by Wates, the project will be the university’s largest teaching and research facility.
The new Life and Mind Building is designed to be net zero carbon in operation
It will house 800 students and 1,200 researchers from across the Departments of Biology and Experimental Psychology, significantly improving the way those disciplines are taught and explored.
The scheme consists of two wings – a four-storey building dedicated to office accommodation and subject testing booths and an adjoining five-storey block with flexible, specialised laboratory space.
LaMB replaces the Tinbergen building, which closed in February 2017 and has been designed from inception to support long-term sustainability.
Using a blend of both BREEAM Excellent targets and Passivhaus principles, the building is intended to be Net Zero Carbon in Operation by 2030.
Offsite manufacturing will be employed to continue swift project delivery
The team is now progressing with the building envelope and fit-out of the build, which will see 140,000 hours of mechanical and electrical installation alone.
Of these, more than 38,500 hours will be carried out at Wates’ offsite manufacturing facility, Prism, including the manufacture of 22 mechanical and electrical risers, more than 600 distribution modules and fully prefabricated pump rooms.
Final handover is scheduled for late 2024
Mark Tant, managing director of Wates Construction, said: “LaMB will support potentially world-changing scientific research and its significance cannot be overlooked. We, and all our partners, have worked closely with OUD to ensure this build will meet the highly complex requirements needed by its end users, support long-term sustainability goals, as well as the wider Oxford community.
“With the structure now complete, you can see how this state-of-the-art scheme slots into Oxford’s historic skyline. We’re honoured to deliver such a monumental project for a prestigious institution and I, and all our teams, look forward to progressing to completion next year.”
