Commercial
We create emotional connections with spaces, elevating architecture with personality and style. Our joinery is timeless, durable, uncompromising in quality, and delivered on time and to the letter of the brief. These are interiors and buildings that create a legacy for future generations to enjoy.
It's no coincidence that we work with some of the oldest and most respected academic institutes in the UK. Our heritage is matched by our appetite for innovation and learning. Each brief is carefully examined, and processes, production and finish methods are aligned to suit the requirements. Our joinery is ambitious and architectural – it enlivens a space while also ensuring perfect functionality. It has one foot in the past and one in the future: combining timber as a symbol of nature and history with cutting-edge design and production, always looking ahead to where we want to be.
Case studies
01
The Jackson Library, Exeter College, Oxford
In The Jackson Library, Exeter College, University of Oxford, we completed a full fit-out with library bookcases, study desks, internal doorsets, two new staircases and a finely crafted timber balcony made with slatted panelling in solid oak. These prominent installations will potentially be in place for hundreds of years, blending timeless beauty with a high level of functionality; they now form the heart of this historic building created in 1857 by architect George Gilbert Scott next to Convocation House, the Grade I-listed historic court room of the Bodleian Library. The project was completed to an extremely tight programme and required a high level of design input and collaboration.
02
St John’s College, Oxford
We worked on multiple phases of the redevelopment of St John’s, carrying out the full joinery installation in the library and later in the new teaching rooms. The project involved developing extensive panelling to match existing historic panels; creating bespoke engineered oak flooring, internal doorsets and student desks; and reproducing ornamental wood carvings, which involved completing a detailed scan of the existing historical carvings and recreating them with a combination of complex CNC work and hand finishing, providing a solution that met the demanding requirements of the programme.
“The joinery NBJ crafted and fitted for us at our projects at St John’s College, Exeter College and Rhodes House was by a significant distance the very best joinery I have ever seen. It was a delight to watch the NBJ craftsmen at work; every piece of joinery was pre-measured, pre-fitted and fully aligned before being fitted. A marvel of the modern-day construction industry.”
– Mark Beard
Chairman of Beard, Past President of The Chartered Institute of Building and former High Sheriff of Oxfordshire