Posted on 20th November 2008
Lord Sainsbury of Turville has made one of the largest ever donations to a British university, to fund a new research laboratory to study plant biology.
Lord David Sainsbury’s Gatsby Charitable Foundation will give £82m for the construction of the Sainsbury Laboratory at Cambridge University.
Due to be completed in 2010, the laboratory will house 120 scientists who will study plant development. The building will also house the university herbarium, an important resource for studying plant evolution and biodiversity.
Lord Sainsbury said, “This is one of the most exciting projects with which my charitable foundation has been involved. It combines an inspirational research programme, an historic site in the Botanic Garden and a beautiful laboratory designed by Stanton Williams, and I believe it will soon become a world-class centre of excellent plant science.”
