The Brief
To preserve the character and features of the original ironmongery within the main house while choosing contrasting but complementary products for the new contemporary extension.
Rhodes House
Architect Stanton Williams
Contractor Beard Construction – Oxford
Location Oxford
Service Full Hardware Scheduling Service
Full Existing Hardware Survey
Date 2023
Photography Neil Kenyon
Awards Winner - Health and Education category in the GAI/RIBA AI Specification Awards 2024
Winner - RIBA South award 2025
The Project
- Building Restoration.
- New Spiral Staircase.
- Garden Pavilion.
- State of the Art Conference Hall.
- Site Reorganisation.
- New Residences and Accommodation.
- New Lightwells for daylight and ventilation.
- State of the art Heat, Power, Lighting and Geothermal systems.
This architectural liberation of Herbert Bakers 1920 education complex, unlocked the potential of the stunning home of the Rhodes Trust, who offer Scholarships to the University of Oxford, to enable the Trust to drive forward and offer more to its scholarly community.
Phase 1 was to preserve as many existing doors and features as possible, returning the historic traditional feel in the original house as priority, whilst meeting all modern regulations.
Phase 2 focussed on refurbishment and extension of the wider estate, requiring sensitive specification to seamlessly move from the historic to the contemporary.
Finishes
To meet the requirements of English Heritage we specified a mixture of antique brass for refurbished areas and satin stainless steel for new accommodation.
A simple but elegant way of creating distinction between old and new.
Helping meet regulations
We undertook an extensive review of all existing doors and hardware, bringing together a specification brief that outlined what hinges, closers and signage needed to be refurbished, replaced or added, to meet current UK fire and safety regulations, whilst maintaining aesthetic sensitivity to the historic building.
3003 Lever handle
3003 510.200.030.3003.SSS Safety Lever Handle
Safety handles
Safety is imperative in high capacity environments such as educational settings. Thats why we recommended 3003 safety lever handles, that return back towards the door reducing the likelihood of user belongings catching on the doors and slowing the exit in an emergency.
Finish
Split finishes are a common requirement in historic projects to denote different areas of the building.
Finishes with high contrast such as stainless steel and antique brass work well together to clearly define this zoning.
076.7003 800.100.076.7003.SSS Disabled Symbol
3003 510.200.030.3003.SSS Safety Lever Handle
Bespoke
In close collaboration with the specialist conservation Architect, from Pendery Architecture, and Heritage, we invested a lot of time, test and trial, to find the closest possible matches to the original bronze Ironmongery ensuring a sensitive solution when bringing the original East Wing up to regulation.
The end result was a hand finished, purposely aged antique brass that sits alongside the 1920’s original brass features beautifully.
This passionate overhaul of a historic educational site, has both doubled its usable space and improved its environmental performance.
“This is much more than a simple education project. It involved many different finishes, different functions and really tested the skill of the ironmonger. It was quite simply a beautiful project and the specification of the ironmongery more than met the brief.”