Winner of both the Gold Award and the Education and Public Sector category of the Wood Awards 2021, Magdalene College Library in Cambridge is a striking example of sympathetic design, beautiful materials and careful craftmanship.

James Latham Ltd recommends WoodEx® Florian European Oak for award-winning new library at Magdalene College, Cambridge.

Built alongside the Grade I listed Pepys Library, it is the first substantial addition to the main site in over 50 years.

The library design is based upon an arrangement of simple brick volumes with timber windows and pitched roofs echoing the gabled architecture of the existing college.

Inside, the building’s structure is clear to see. Glulam beams support cross-laminated timber floor slabs which are supported on load-bearing brick piers. The architect’s intention was for all the key features to appear as an interwoven set of elements.

Cambridge-based bespoke joinery firm Wedd Joinery was commissioned to manufacture all the furniture within the library including bookcases, desks and various other pieces. The specification was for solid timber much to the joinery company’s delight with Magdalene College wanting to build something for the future generation.

Wedd chose to work with WoodEx® Florian European Oak on the advice of timber and materials supplier James Latham (Lathams). The team recommended the product due to its high-quality finish and strong performance.

Lathams extensive network and key supplier relationships provided a further advantage, as they were able to fulfil the specification and meet the demand for such a large order.

In his summation of the project, Jim Greaves, Chair of Buildings Judges, Wood Awards 2021 said, “The Gold Award winner this year, Magdalene College Library, is a tour de force of architectural design and achievement. Experienced sequentially as they lead one through the building, the different spaces and forms of the reading rooms are quite beautiful. The brick, timber and stone have been designed exquisitely with a thorough understanding of their intrinsic qualities. A truly outstanding building.”

“We love working hand in hand with our customers, to help them to find the materials that are the right fit for their projects,” said Adrian Roker at Lathams. “It has been amazing to watch this project come to life, with one of our highest performing products being used to such an exceptional standard.”

Simon Lock, commercial director, Wedd Joinery said: “We have worked with Latham’s for over 50 years. They will always be one of the companies we go to at the early stage of a project involving solid timber. At the end, it came down to the important balance of service, quality and price.

“I genuinely believe that a solid oak project on this scale is a once in a lifetime opportunity and we are delighted to have been involved in it. The fact that we were part of the team that was recognised so highly for that work really is the icing on the cake.”

Exclusive to James Latham, WoodEx® is a versatile, premium quality, engineered hardwood timber product made from either European Oak, Sapele or Red Grandis. Combining high performance with aesthetic appeal, WoodEx® is often used for applications such as windows and doors because it provides a better thermal performance than solid wood and is highly stable and resistant to warping, hugely reducing the need for maintenance. And, while its appearance is akin to solid timber, it has the advantage that the visual face and two sides are clear of defects making it ideal for joinery projects.

The timber was provided by Italian-headquartered hardwood sawmilling and wood product manufacturer Florian. The family-owned group has operations across Italy, France, Croatia and Hungary and supplies customers in 78 countries.

Florian’s sales to the UK are worth approximately Euro 20m, and nearly half of that is sold through Lathams. For the Magdelene College Library project, Lathams supplied over £300,000 of WoodEx® Florian European Oak.

About James Latham
James Latham is one of the UK’s largest independent distributors of timber, panels and decorative surfaces. It supplies products to a broad range of customers, from contractors and merchants, through to designers and makers.

With a history reaching back over 260 years, Latham’s have always been innovators. The brand consistently pushes the boundaries of materials selection, from its origins in timber products, panels and doors, through to the modern day, where it sits as one of the sector’s most recognised suppliers of cutting-edge materials technologies, including decorative laminates, veneers, thermoplastics and acrylics.

Its most recent innovation is a Carbon calculator that enables architects, designers, specifiers and material users to understand the carbon impact of products they select. Both carbon footprint and biogenic carbon content shown on key documentation such as quotations, delivery notes and invoices, meaning users can fully understand the carbon impact of the products they choose.

People are as important as the company’s product ranges. Experienced industry professionals teamed with specialist product managers mean James Latham can offer solutions and advice in the most challenging of applications.

Operating from fourteen branches throughout the UK and Ireland, James Latham works with construction professionals, designers, architects and more, enabling the most demanding designs and construction projects to become reality.

With this knowledge, experience and product range at our disposal, James Latham is the all-round answer to your construction and design needs