In the making: A Ratan Tata Building by Tata group and Oxford University

The Tata Group and Somerville College, University of Oxford, are partnering to build the Ratan Tata Building, with construction set to commence in spring 2025.

The new building will enhance Somerville's teaching and learning facilities, promote research, and embody the college's vision of a sustainable and progressive academic community, the Tata Group and Somerville College said in a statement.

“In 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 Tata’s values. The building in his name will be a home to research that is necessary and urgent for India,” N Chandrasekaran, chairman of the board of Tata Sons, said in a statement.

“This building is the fruit of many conversations, hopes, and dreams over the past decade and our long association with Tata. In its capacity to meet our college’s present and future needs, 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,” said Somerville College’s principal, Baroness Royall.

The project was made possible by the decade-long friendship between Somerville College and Chairman Emeritus of the Tata Group, Ratan Tata. 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.

The statement also said the new building will create a permanent space for the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development (OICSD). The values of Tata and the Tata Group align closely with the work of the OICSD, a unique Oxford-India partnership embodying the deep, longstanding ties with India and the cutting-edge commitment to world-class scholarship and transformative research, the statement said.

The winning design for the building was produced by London-based architects Morris+Company in their first project at the University of Oxford.