Mum’s the word for £40m uni health centre
THE new home of Glasgow University’s Institute of Health and Wellbeing will be named after a Shawlands mum whose sons donated £5million to make it a reality.
Pears Foundation has donated the cash for the construction of the building, expected to cost in excess of £40m, which will be named after Clarice Pears, who was born and raised in Glasgow.
The Pears Foundation was set up and run by Clarice’s three sons, Mark, Trevor and David.
Professor Jill Pell, director of the institute of health and wellbeing, said: “The generous support of Pears Foundation will help us achieve our vision to improve health and reduce health inequalities on a local, national and global scale.
“The Clarice Pears Building will be transformative in how we support and promote collaboration both internally and with external partners.
“It will mean we can bring our staff together under one roof and make the University a more effective and attractive place to undertake world-leading research and teaching.”
Pears Foundation is a British family foundation that invests in more than £20m to good causes each year.
Clarice Pears was born in 1933 and lived in a tenement flat in Lochside Street.
Sir Trevor Pears said: “It is a privilege to name this fantastic building after our mother, who was immensely proud of her Scottish roots.
“There is a lot of resonance between the work of the University of Glasgow’s Institute of Health and Wellbeing and our philanthropic goals; the research done there is very much applied and practical and we hope it goes from strength to strength.”
The Clarice Pears building is part of the University £1billion campus development programme and will be located on the site of the former Western Infirmary.