Originally built in 1937 for Nobel Prizewinning Russian physicist Piotr Kapitza, the Mond building is Cambridge’s finest example of interwar Modernism.

Under the direction of the University of Cambridge, Bland, Brown and Cole’s work here included an extensive mercury decontamination programme, followed by a painstaking conversion and restoration of the Grade II listed structure for the Centre for African Studies and the Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit. This included a new, central library/study space with tutorial rooms, offices and archive stores.

The project received a commendation in the 2008 David Irwin Design Awards.