Observatory to be 'reenergised' after £3m gift

The Radcliffe Observatory was built in the 1700s and is Grade I listed

Plans to "reenergise" an 18th-century, Grade I-listed building at the University of Oxford have taken a step forward following a donation of more than £3m to the project.

Green Templeton College said it would enable work to make the Radcliffe Observatory a "focal point" of the college and the surrounding university quarter.

The money will be used to fund the restoration of the building's southern facade and to landscape the area - which will be known as the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter.

It came from Stephen A Schwarzman, the American billionaire who co-founded the investment firm Blackstone.

Some of the money will be used to landscape the area around the observatory

A new £185-million arts and humanities centre funded by Mr Schwarzman - and named in his honour - is set to open at the observatory this Autumn.

Prof William Whyte, who is leading the building project said: "I'm delighted that this gift will kickstart the project to conserve an internationally important... building at the heart of the Oxford landscape."

Sir Michael Dixon, the college principal said the gift was an "important moment in the history of the college" and that the work would restore the observatory to "its original eighteenth-century glory".

"This gift is a signal of the type of investment the college is actively working to engage with to deliver our exciting vision and plans," he said.

An additional fundraising scheme has now been launched to conserve and decarbonise the building.