Cambridge: The new Porters’ Lodge at Jesus College.
Photographer: Lewis Bush.

The Porters’ Lodge was completed as expected in the Summer of 2019 and is now in full use by Fellows, students and the Porters themselves. It’s early days but initial reactions have been positive, especially to the Post Room where, as is evident from the photograph, ‘snail mail’ is far from redundant. During the 15 month construction period, it was realised that there would be occasions when it was desirable to be able to ‘close’ individual pigeonholes to indicate that students were away from college for long periods and that post should not be left. Thinking of a way of achieving the closure of eleven hundred pigeonholes without threatening the budget was an interesting challenge, solved by forming small grooves at the top and bottom of each pigeonhole’s ‘mouth’ and providing small pieces of flexible ply, each with a finger hole in the centre. Users close their own pigeonhole as appropriate.

Other projects completed in 2019:
Cambridge: New bespoke oak doors to shelves in the Webb Library at Jesus College