The £69m science institute in Bateman Street was honoured in an award ceremony held in Manchester last night. It was built in 2011 and was partly funded by Cambridge’s new chancellor Lord Sainsbury, who is a former government science minister and an alumnus of King’s College Cambridge. It combines state-of-the-art laboratory rooms and meeting spaces with an ethos on sustainability, as rainwater is stored in tanks before being used to irrigate the glasshouse set in the University Botanic Gardens.

The Stirling Prize is a highly prestigious architecture award, and it is presented to chartered RIBA architects that have designed the best new structures in Britain or Europe. It is the first time that Stanton Williams architects have claimed the £20,000 prize, however it is the second time in five years that Cambridge have been victors, after the Accordia housing development in Kingfisher Way won the award in 2008. The laboratory’s innovative construction, with a public café bridging the gap between its communal areas and private research rooms, beat London’s Olympic Stadium to achieve the accolade.

Lord Sainsbury congratulated the architectural firm for their achievement last night: “I am delighted that Stanton Williams has won the RIBA Stirling Prize for the Sainsbury Laboratory. I am also very proud to be associated with their inspiring building which sets a new standard for laboratory design.”

Cambridge students have also voiced their appreciation for the building. Beth Jones, a second year student at Queens' College said: 'I think the laboratory has been very cleverly designed to blend in with the natural environment, which is very appropriate as its whole purpose is to enable research of the natural world.'

The architects at Stanton Williams were praised by the judges for their design of a ‘timeless piece of architecture’, as the building is intended to complement its Grade II listed garden setting. The site overlooks the woods where Darwin walked with his tutor Henslow, discussing the origin of species, uniting the University’s rich history with a world-class, sustainable scientific facility.