Controversial plans for a Cambridge Children’s Hospital have been given the green light to start work in 2026, following government approval on the project.

Plans for the hospital were provisionally approved in 2023, but had to wait for final confirmation from ministers over the project’s funding. Ministerial approval means the hospital can move into its second stage of development, appointing a contractor to build the facility.

The children’s hospital has been in the works since 2019 when the government pledged £100 million in funding towards it. However, the project faced a funding gap of a further £100 million, which was partially filled by a £20 million donation from oil magnate Majid Jafar.

Jafar is the CEO and founder of Crescent Petroleum and the managing director of Dana Gas, the largest non-government owned natural gas company in the Middle East. He has also donated a combined total of £41,500 to the Conservative Party since 2016.

This donation came shortly before the University implemented a freeze on accepting donations from fossil fuel companies, only to later announce that they would accept multi-million pound donations in “exceptional circumstances”.

Students and staff have criticised the University’s decision to accept the donation. Sam Hutton, the previous chair of the SU’s Ethical Affairs campaign stated: “The University’s own reviews have consistently asserted the ethical necessity of refusing fossil fuel industry money.”

Professor Jason Scott Warren, who sits on the University’s executive council, also condemned the decision to take the money, telling Varsity that the University “persistently sidelines ethical considerations,” when considering such donations.

The East of the UK is the only region without a specialist children’s hospital, with this plan forming part of a larger project to improve children’s healthcare in the region.

The hospital will be a partnership between Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH), which runs Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie Maternity Hospital, the University of Cambridge, and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT), which runs the mental health services across the County.

It is the first children’s hospital in the UK designed to look holistically at patients: creating treatment plans that incorporate the physical as well as mental health of children. This approach has captivated celebrity ambassadors including Cambridge alumni Stephen Fry.

The hospital will be situated opposite the Rosie Maternity Hospital on the biomedical campus. Building is set to commence in 2026.