Tradition meets innovation: Trinity College, Oxford, installs twin Athanor cook suites

In 2021, one of Oxford’s oldest colleges, Trinity, began an exciting new project that involved the extensive refurbishment, and reconfiguration, of its Senior Common Room (SCR), hall, kitchen, servery, Stair 11, and access to the basement bar. Designed by Humble Arnold Associates (HAA), the new kitchen and servery ensures that catering staff can interact more closely with students and Fellows, a key requirement set out by the College in its brief. The project was completed in October 2024, with GS Catering supplying, installing and project managing the provision of the new kitchen and servery.

“The previous kitchen and servery had become very dated in terms of both equipment life and evolved layout,” says HAA director, Ed Bircham. “The project objective was to improve workflows and operational efficiencies for the catering team, employing the latest efficient equipment and technologies. The updates were to exceed latest legislation requirements, including for accessibility in the servery space. As an open kitchen within such a prestigious college the design was to be a conservative showpiece for many years to come.”

Before HAA joined the project, the head chef had already been researching the market and identified Athanor as a strong candidate for the new cook suites based on their heavy duty, yet refined, performance, clean classic aesthetic and feedback from peers. Athanor was one of several options that HAA explored with the college, but ultimately those characteristics were key factors and that is why Athanor was chosen.

The shallower depth kitchen space led to the requirement for two shorter parallel island ranges. The truly bespoke nature of the Athanor units allowed full flexibility in the design, including the opportunity to seamlessly integrate selective third-party appliances. Ultimately, the Athanor plaque cooking surfaces are genuine plancha units which give the chefs the ability to cook in different ways for different scenarios.

Both suites have the same footprint 2775mm (long) x 1600mm (wide). Set into the top of suite one is a mixture of induction and Plaque Athanor units along with 1/1GN sized multi-cooker which offer the complete flexibility of pan cooking/direct cooking and chaufont/pasta cooking. Set above the range top is a shelf supporting a salamander grill and a column mounted tap. Below the top is a mixture of open storage and set of 3 x 1/1Gn hot holding drawers.

Set into the top of suite two are a twin induction unit, two twin fryers, a single fryer, and a set down section to accommodate a twin iVario pan. Set above the range is a shelf supporting a salamander grill and below the top is a mixture of open storage, Adande refrigerated drawers and fryer filtration cupboards.

“Both suites are designed to cope with the bulk production requirements of a large college environment but have the flexibility for an A la Carte style restaurant service when needed,” says Bircham. “The heavy-duty nature of the ranges sits well in the college environment where longevity is a fundamental expectation and a key consideration of lifetime cost. The elegant aesthetics of the suites is also a natural fit for the kitchen as they are a focal point of the open plan design.

The suites must also provide flexibility for different types of meal service including daily three meal dining, formal dinners, private dining events and conferencing and weddings. One kitchen must service all these needs and as such the flexible, bespoke nature of the Athanor suites is a must have.”