The formal opening of the Ray Dolby Centre also marks a significant milestone in the development of the Cambridge West Innovation District, home to the University’s world-leading research in physics, engineering, and computer science. Purpose-built for innovation and discovery, it brings together a community of the brightest minds to solve some of the world’s most complex problems.

“The Ray Dolby Centre is a state-of-the-art national facility for physics which sits at the heart of the emerging Cambridge West Innovation District,” said Professor Deborah Prentice, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. “This unique environment is transforming how the UK does science, creating the leading location in Europe that brings together academics, entrepreneurs, and industry. It will be at the forefront of AI, quantum, and climate research, catalysing the growth of UK science and technology.”

Unlike many other scientific laboratories, the Ray Dolby Centre has been designed with the wider community in mind. Much of the building is open to the public, including a café space, outreach and exhibition spaces organised around six courtyards.

The Ray Dolby Centre also provides a new home for the Cavendish Museum, where objects from the Cavendish’s history are on prominent display, including Watson and Crick’s DNA model, the cathode ray tube used to discover the electron, the particle accelerator Cockcroft and Walton used to split the atom, among many others.

“The Ray Dolby Centre will make a significant and much welcome addition to the Physics research and innovation community in the UK,” said Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser, UKRI CEO. “It will inspire future generations and foster new collaborations, not least through its innovative plans for equipment sharing and opportunities for users from across the UK to benefit. I am delighted to be able to join in celebrating this remarkable occasion.”

The Ray Dolby Centre was designed by the architecture and interior design practice Jestico + Whiles and constructed by Bouygues UK in partnership with executive design partners NBBJ and BDP. The Wolfson Foundation and Humphrey Battcock are among other donors backing the project, together with the University Capital Fund.

The new facility is designed to match the most exacting standards of current research, serving the needs of future generations of undergraduate and graduate students much more effectively than is possible on the Cavendish’s existing site, which dates from the 1970s. Capacity for public events has also been incorporated in the design, so that the Cavendish’s extensive programme of work with schools, and with the general public, will continue to serve the local population well into the future.

READ MORE: Cambridge's new Ray Dolby Centre gives scientists space to think outside the box