The new £49 million Biochemistry building at the University of Oxford has been supplied with its furniture by Allitec. The company has been supplying the University for several years but it was a combination of competitive tendering and an understanding of both the aspirations and the needs of the Biochemistry Department that saw the company win the opportunity to furnish this most prestigious building. This is the latest development by the University
which has ambitious plans over the next fifteen years to fundamentally
re-develop the Science Area.

Designed by Hawkins\Brown architects and project managed and constructed by Laing O’Rourke, this distinctive 12,000 square metre facility with its glass facades and coloured fins brings together 300 lecturers, researchers and students previously based in a number of separate buildings. Inside a 400 square metre atrium with breakout spaces and specially commissioned artworks encourages collaboration between the researchers.

The Biochemistry Department at Oxford University is the largest in the UK and is internationally renowned for its research in the understanding of DNA, cell growth and immunity. Previously the department’s scientists have had to conduct research in outmoded buildings spread across the Science Area in the centre of Oxford.

Allitec took the opportunity to introduce some truly innovative furniture which has considerably added to the overall effect of the building. Allitec were supported throughout the project by their principal manufacturing partner, Verco Office Furniture and it was their Oblique desking range which was selected as the basis for the office areas together with the Pop office chair. The clean lines of Oblique, finished in a white frame and with beech veneer tops, offer a crisp
uncluttered feel to the working environment into which are placed some
classically iconic pieces of furniture.

Specially designed for the building were a series of white tables from Verco which provided not only the restaurant areas but occasional areas throughout coupled with the vibrant colours of the Catifa chairs. Finally, not to be outdone, Allitec itself designed and manufactured a series of tables and benches for the roof garden and courtyard. This external furniture, under the name of Dura, has now become a standard product of the company.