More than £56m raised for new children's hospital

The hospital will be built on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, at the heart of Europe’s largest life-sciences cluster

A fundraising campaign to build a children’s hospital passed the halfway mark of its £100m target and received more than £56m in donations.

Cambridge Children's Hospital which would treat patients with mental and physical health issues, was due to be built in 2025.

The proposals were previously at “residual risk” after the Cambridge Congestion Charge was axed.

However, after a business case for the hospital was approved in principle by the government, Dame Mary Archer, co-chair of the hospital’s fundraiser campaign, said thanks to more than 40 “amazing donors who have brought them to this important campaign milestone”.

With an embedded University of Cambridge research institute, the hospital was expected to have a regional, national and global impact.

The fundraiser for the hospital was launched two years ago by Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust, Head to Toe Charity and the University of Cambridge, and is co-chaired by Dame Mary, former Chair of Cambridge University Hospitals, and Majid Jafar, a Cambridge alumnus and supporter of medical research.

The Jafar family said they would donate £20m to the project after Majid and Lynn's daughter was diagnosed with a rare neurogenetic disorder.

Ten million pounds of the gift would be dedicated to the research institute within the new hospital.

Mr Jafar said the research at the hospital would be "game-changing"

Mr Jafar said: "We are delighted to support this wonderful project. Having lived the experience of a child with a serious and life-long condition, my wife and I believe deeply in the power of research to make a difference in the lives of such children and their families."

Roland Sinker, chief executive of Cambridge University Hospitals, called the £100m target “one of the most philanthropically ambitious capital projects of this nature in the country today”.