Caius rowers, Fellows and benefactors gathered today on the banks of the Cam to celebrate the unveiling of the foundation stone of the new Caius boathouse.

The building, already well underway and set to open next summer, replaces the College's original boathouse, built in 1879. Funded entirely through the generosity of benefactors of the College, the new boathouse will have space to house some 30 boats, and will also feature a large gym for land training, changing rooms, a crew room and a specialist boat workshop. The facilities reflect the popularity of rowing at Caius, whose men are currently Head of the River while the women are second. College rower Melissa Wilson, who graduated last summer, is a triple blue and has rowed for GB Under-23s and is currently trialling for the GB women's seniors.

The stone plaque unveiled today features the names of current Gonville & Caius Boat Club Senior Treasurer Jimmy Altham and his predecessor Jack McDonald, who have overseen the £4.5m project. Designed by Cambridge firm bb+c architects, the building is being constructed by Suffolk-based Cocksedge Building Contractors, while the Portland stone plaque was carved by Lida Kindersley.

Today, the Master of Caius Professor Sir Alan Fersht, Development Director James Howell and Director of Development for Principal Gifts Dr Anne Lyon were joined at the ceremony by current College boat club representatives and major donors. Funds for the building were raised within in an extraordinarily brief 12 month period. Dr Lyon said: "Caius benefactors have been just fantastic - within a year we raised the money not only for the boathouse but for the renovation of the graduate accommodation building at 28 Ferry Path next door.

"None of this would have been possible without the generosity of the seventeen benefactors [see list below] whose names will be on the wall at the entrance to the new building."

Unveiling the foundation stone, Jack McDonald said the project represented a direct riposte to the horror perpetrated at the weekend by Islamist terrorists in Paris. The building stood for the spirit of adventure and of excellence, rather than the "nihilism, negativity and nothingness" of terrorism, he said. Moreover, it symbolised a sense of family. "It is part of what makes the College a real family of men and women, highly able and working together. Everything that happened in Paris was in opposition to that."

Jimmy Altham said the project was an example of teamwork. "Everyone has been cooperative, helpful and wanting to make a success of it." With some eighty piles buried deep in the ground to form the building's foundations, the new boathouse was "not going anywhere", he added. "In Caius, we believe in the future, we believe in durability and doing things that are going to last."

The new boathouse, built on and slightly beyond the footprint of the original building, is being built of red brick with its roof - set to be in place by Christmas - clad in pre-patinated copper. It will be topped with a clock tower - permitted only to colleges that have been Head of the River for five years, according to Cambridge folklore. There will also be a weather vane and flagpole. The old building, cramped and in need of repair after almost 150 years, had barely enough room for boats and, when first built, was equipped with an earth closet as a lavatory.

Caius boatman Simon Goodbrand said the new building would help the college continue its strong rowing tradition, including its track record in tempting those who had done little sport at school on to the water. Melissa Wilson, who gained a third rowing blue this year, faked sick notes to avoid school sport before trying rowing on arriving at Caius and falling in love with the sport.

The new plaque to be added to the Boathouse will read:

Gonville & Caius College is grateful to the following whose generosity made the building of this boathouse possible

For more information, contact Communications Officer Lucy Ward

news@cai.cam.ac.uk