Tata Group, Somerville College to construct landmark building to honour Ratan Tata

Ratan Tata

Tata Group and Somerville College, University of Oxford on October 21 announced a collaboration to construct a landmark building to honour the late industrialist Ratan Tata.

To be named the Ratan Tata Building, it represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to expand Somerville's teaching and learning space, support research with global impact, and articulate the college's vision of a sustainable and forward-looking academic community, a joint statement by the Tata group and Somerville College said. The construction will begin in Spring 2025 at the heart of the Oxford University's new Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, enabled by the significant philanthropic donation from the Tata Group, it added.

While the decision to name the new building in honour of Tata in recognition for his lifelong work as a philanthropist and humanitarian was taken some time ago, his death felt so keenly throughout India and the world, gives even greater meaning to this lasting tribute to him, the statement said.

"In Mr Tata's vision for India, research and critical inquiry went hand in hand with development and prosperity. This partnership with Somerville College is a tribute to Mr Tata's values. The building in his name will be a home to research that is necessary and urgent for India," Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran said.

Somerville College Principal, Baroness Royall said, "The building is the fruit of many conversations, hopes and dreams over the past decade and our long association with Mr Tata." The building will house new seminar rooms and offices, existing alongside spaces for shared study and interdisciplinary collaboration, reception rooms and accommodation for visiting academics.

The Tata Building will stand opposite the internationally renowned Blavatnik School of Government, and will occupy the last remaining plot of land available for development on the prestigious Radcliffe Observatory Quarter site, directly opposite the new Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, the statement said.