SureClad® Facade for new Police HQ
The Shackerley SureClad® Porcelain Stone facade system has been installed as part of a £55.5m project to build a new headquarters for Hertfordshire Police in Welwyn Garden City.
We manufactured a total of 9,011 facade pieces for the 4024m2 SureClad® Porcelain Stone facade at our ISO 9001 certified Lancashire factories.
All cutting, precision undercut drilling, fitting of all anchors, and attachment of all SureClad® bracketry was carried out within our quality assured factory environment, enabling us to dispatch fully pre-fabricated and installation-ready facade panels to site, aligned to the installation schedule. This meant that, in accordance with the requirements of ISO TS 17870-3, facade installation specialist, A2O, did not need to carry out any cutting, undercut drilling, or anchoring of panel attachment clips or straps on site.
Designed by architects Vincent+Gorbing, and constructed by Willmott Dixon, the 9750m2 police headquarters building is due for completion in July 2026. The project is the first phase of Vincent+Gorbing’s masterplan for Hertfordshire Constabulary, and will enable modern methods of working in a contemporary, inspiring environment.
Specification of Shackerley’s SureClad® Porcelain Stone system aligns with this future-focused vision, with the creamy beige 1200 x 600 x 11mm large format SureClad® Porcelain Stone panels providing a classic, contemporary aesthetic, while delivering buildability benefits and long-term performance. The A1 rated SureClad® Porcelain Stone, with A2 s1, d0 rated safety meshing, provides a high standard of fire safety for the building, in compliance with BS 13501-1 and the BSA. The non-porous, exceptionally hard SureClad® Porcelain Stone material also delivers a low maintenance facade for the building, with excellent resistance to U/V, freeze/thaw conditions, pollutants, algae and graffiti.
The SureClad®️ Porcelain Stone facade specification is also part of a quality-driven specification for the BREEAM Excellent Hertfordshire Constabulary HQ building, which has been designed to ultra-high sustainability standards and is targeting WELL Platinum Certification.
Shackerley attended a topping out ceremony to mark structural completion of the project in April 2025, attended by a number of VIPs from Hertforshire Constabulary, delivery partners and supply chain companies, along with the High Sherriff, Nicholas Buxton. A section of our SureClad®️ support system was used to create a ‘guest book’ for topping out delegates, creating a permanent memento of the use of our facade system.
We worked closely with the design and contracting team on the Herefordshire Constabulary facade project to provide special production of bespoke facade details aligned to the project’s design and installation schedule. The SureClad® Porcelain Stone facade has been installed using both our patented SureClad® Access system and our SureClad® Hang On system, providing a flexible approach to optimising buildability and facade performance throughout the project.
About porcelain stone facades:
Porcelain rainscreen is a facade cladding using porcelain panels. Porcelain rainscreen systems should be fabricated in an appropriately accredited, quality controlled, factory environment in accordance with the requirements of ISO TS 17870-3 and delivered to site as ready-to-install facade panels, mechanically fixed to the building, structure in compliance with the requirements set out in ISO/TS 17870-3:2023 – published by BSI. The porcelain rainscreen system provides a drained and ventilated facade that protects the building, enhances thermal performance and delivers an attractive porcelain finish for a building.
A ready to install porcelain cladding system has all parts of the cladding system pre-fitted onto the cladding panels in an appropriately accredited/quality-controlled factory. Shackerley’s ready to install cladding panels are pre-fabricated with all undercut anchors and clips attached. Avoiding any assembly of components on site ensures improved quality of installation and performance of the finished cladding. All Shackerley cladding systems are supplied as fully pre-fabricated cladding panels for an installation-ready cladding system, with all cladding panel pre-fabrication carried out in our ISO 9001 certified UK factories, avoiding any need for the assembly of panels on site. For porcelain cladding systems the requirement for factory assembled panels is detailed in the new standard ISO/TS 17870-3:2023 – published by BSI.
