The Maersk Mc-Kinney Møller Centre for Continuing Education was built with a donation to Churchill College, and opened by Her Majesty Queen Ingrid of Denmark in 1992.
The centre was financed through a donation of some £10 million to Churchill College by the A. P. Møller and Chastine McKinney Foundation, a Danish institution found in 1953 by shipping magnate A. P. Møller. Maersk Mc-Kinney Møller – A .P. Møller’s son, was keen to support a development at Churchill College in memory of Winston Churchill and because of the college’s tradition of excellence in the fields of science and engineering.
Møller was motivated to support the college when it approached the foundation for funds to build additional accommodation for Post Graduate students as he felt that Denmark’s safety during WWII and its subsequent recovery afterwards was due in some part to Churchill’s personal involvement. On the outbreak of the war Maersk ships were turned over to the British to assist the war effort for which Churchill was swift to compensate the Company after the wars end.
In considering the request for funding A. P. Møller proposed the idea of building a “Centre for Excellence” to include meeting rooms, bedrooms and common spaces in which to bring together education, industry and commerce. Møller believed that Centre should offer an environment that enabled the highest standard of continuing education to International businesses seeking to develop their executive and managerial staff and choose furniture by his fellow Dane and contemporary Hans J. Wegner.
The Building
Henning Larsen, an award-winning Danish architect designed the main building, selected not because of his nationality, but for his use of the environment and the landscape surrounding the site.
The building is typically Scandinavian in design with an uncluttered contemporary layout, complemented by excellent use of natural light. The style and the layout of the building create a comfortable and encouraging working environment and an atmosphere which is conducive to concentration, learning and results.
The existing Study Centre was designed by Thurlow Carnell and Thornburrow in 1993.
The development to the Study Centre was designed by DSDHA and was completed in July 2007.
The Furniture
Hans Wegner, credited with creating ‘the World’s most beautiful chair’ designed most of the furniture in the Centre.
Wegner is renowned for blending a variety of the best quality natural materials in his classic designs, with a focus on comfort and simplicity of design – very much in keeping with the Centre’s Scandinavian architecture and our ethos of offering guests comfortable, quality surroundings in which to work and relax.
Some Venue Facts
23 meeting rooms (capacity 1-to-1 to 150)
70 air-conditioned, en-suite bedrooms
State-of-the-art, audio-visual resources with immediate on-site technician support
Restaurant seats 88
Tower Lounge Bar and Roof Terrace with Cambridge skyline view