Building a university for the future
Projects
Laying foundations for tomorrow’s innovation
The world is changing fast and universities must keep up. Donations are providing financial flexibility through the Endowment and are enabling Bristol’s buildings to grow and be renewed to reflect the work going on inside them.
Areas supported in 2011/12
- Your gifts totalling just under £1m have contributed enormously to renovations of the Wills Law Library. The £3m project broke ground in July 2012 and students will be welcomed to this sympathetically modernized study space in October 2013.
- Thanks to significant contributions from alumni and friends, Bristol will now build a new regenerative medicine laboratory. This will bring together stem cell scientists from a range of different research areas, offering a unique collaboration which, it is hoped, will greatly enhance our fight against Parkinson’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, dementia, cancer, and other cruel and debilitating conditions.
- A generous gift of £50,000 from an alumnus as he celebrated his 100th birthday, made in memory of his late wife, will help create a dedicated nursery at the University’s Botanic Garden for nurturing young and delicate plants. This will provide space for an exhibit on ‘cool zone’ plants and a new display of carnivorous plants especially designed to engage younger visitors.
- Students in the University of Bristol Boat Club will benefit from a new boathouse, changing rooms and clubhouse facilities, thanks to gifts from alumni and local friends totalling more than £300,000. Work is expected to begin later this year and the new facilities should attract many new students to this competitive sport.
- Legacies ranging from £1,000 to £1 million enriched the student experience, pushed forward ground breaking research, and helped build a university for the future. One £50,000 legacy gift established a fund providing pump-priming grants to help our academics explore exciting new avenues in dementia research.