Durham University receives £3.35 million donation towards major building development

Plans for a new building at Durham University took a step forward this week after receiving a major investment from an alumnus.

The building will house Durham University’s Ogden Centre for Fundamental Physics and will be worth £10 million

Physics alumnus and entrepreneur Sir Peter Ogden, Chairman of The Ogden Trust attended the ceremony earlier in the week to finalise the £3.35million donation towards the proposed new development.

The gift is the largest single donation in The Ogden Trust’s history and today’s signing comes at the same time that Durham University has been named by Thomson-Reuters as number one in Europe and joint-sixth in the world for research citations in Space Science.

Sir Peter, who graduated from Durham in 1968 with a degree in Physics and a PhD in Theoretical Physics in 1971, lends his name to the original Ogden Centre for Fundamental Physics which opened in 2002 after being established by an earlier £2million gift from The Ogden Trust.

The current Centre houses two prestigious institutes, the Institute for Computational Cosmology (ICC), one of the world’s premier theoretical cosmology groups, and the Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology (IPPP), the only one of its kind in the world.

The new building is now a top priority because of the Institutes’ rapid growth and academic success, and will enable them to maintain their leading global positions in the decades ahead.

As well as the generous donation from The Ogden Trust, a further £1.5 million towards the development has been awarded by the Wolfson Foundation.

The planned new development will be located adjacent to the current Physics department on South Road, Durham.

Professor Chris Higgins, vice-chancellor of Durham University, said: “Durham is truly a world leader in physics research and teaching and this exceptionally generous gift from The Ogden Trust, and the wonderful support of The Wolfson Foundation and our alumni, will ensure that we can create a prestigious development to help keep us at the forefront of international physics research for many years to come.”

Sir Peter Ogden said: “This is the largest single donation in The Ogden Trust’s history, which indicates the importance of the relationship which it has developed with Durham University’s Department of Physics over the last decade.

“It is also testament to the depth and strength of the research into Fundamental Physics at Durham led by Professor Carlos Frenk and his colleagues. This new building and its facilities will attract the best students and researchers in cosmology and particle physics phenomenology from all over the world, and will enable Durham to lead international developments in these fields.”

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