Mumbai, October 21, 2024: Tata Group and Somerville College, University of Oxford are collaborating to construct the Ratan Tata Building. This building 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. The construction will begin in Spring 2025, stated a press release.

The project is made possible by the decade-long friendship between Somerville College and Chairman Emeritus of the Tata Group, Mr Ratan Tata. While the decision to name the new building in honour of Mr Tata in recognition for his lifelong work as a philanthropist and humanitarian was taken some time ago, his death last week, felt so keenly throughout India and the world, gives even greater meaning to this lasting tribute to him.

True to Somerville’s founding principles, the plans envisage a space that is both inclusive and equitable. New seminar rooms and offices will exist alongside spaces for shared study and interdisciplinary collaboration, reception rooms and accommodation for visiting academics. The interchange of ideas and model of collegiate working will be facilitated by the space itself.

Somerville College is proud to announce that we will shortly begin construction on a flagship building at the heart of the Oxford University’s new Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, enabled by the significant philanthropic donation from the Tata Group.

The transformational generosity of the Tata Group will also enable the creation of a permanent home for the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development (OICSD) within the new building. The values of Mr Tata and the Tata Group align closely with the work of the OICSD, a unique Oxford-India partnership embodying our deep, longstanding ties with India and our cutting-edge commitment to world-class scholarship and transformative research.

The location of the Tata Building is unrivalled. Standing opposite the internationally renowned Blavatnik School of Government, Somerville’s new building 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 winning design for the building was produced by London-based architects Morris+Company in their first project at the University of Oxford.

Somerville College’s Principal, Baroness Royall, said of the news: “This building is the fruit of many conversations, hopes and dreams over the past decade and our long association with Mr Tata. In its capacity to meet our College’s present and future need, to embody our values, and to guide us towards an exciting future, it is unparalleled. Now it will stand as a permanent legacy to the life of a remarkable man and a dear friend of Somerville. I am deeply grateful to Mr Chandrasekaran, Chairman of the Tata Group, and all those involved for enabling us to create this dynamic expression of friendship between Oxford and India, to pay tribute to Mr Tata and to cement Somerville’s plans as a world-class academic institution.”

Mr. N Chandrasekaran, Chairman of the Board of Tata Sons, commented, “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."