Fletcher Priest Architects prepared the concept design for the building whilst Oxford Architects were the executive architects who delivered the project.

St Anne’s College wished to build a Library and Academic Centre, on a site fronting the Woodstock Road and where the Gatehouse and Cottage are currently located, to achieve the following objectives:

1) To create a building that will be a prominent landmark in Oxford. It will express the College’s distinctive character within the University and City, and demonstrate its academic objectives in research and teaching

2) To improve the Woodstock Road frontage to create a modern and welcoming access to College.

3) To reveal the façade of Hartland House to the Woodstock Road which was also a key objective of the planning authority.

4) To construct, as an example to the rest of Oxford, a modern sustainable building using natural products wherever possible. The building should be energy efficient whilst remaining practical and cost efficient

The new library features an extra 1,300m of book shelving, new reader spaces, a new meeting/ teaching room, two seminar rooms, a foyer area and the St Anne’s Research Centre. This modern facility now meets the academic needs of a digital culture and complements the existing Library and IT services whilst offering upgraded working environments for students and staff.

Other Key Aspects:

• Ground source heat pumps
• Use of natural products
• Ceiling heating/cooling system within acoustic plastered finishes
• Acoustic treatment and comfort controlled environment
• The use of Building Information Modelling throughout the technical phase