Queen’s Business School in Belfast is delighted to announce the Mark Pigott Lecture Theatre, endowed by a generous gift of £1 million in support of the new innovative facility at the Riddel Hall campus.

The new 6000 square metre Business School building, adjacent to the listed red-brick Riddel Hall, will become the base for a vibrant community of national and international students and faculty, providing an enhanced social and educational experience.

The Mark Pigott Lecture Theatre is a 250-seat tiered educational space that will be the central learning hub at Queen’s Business School. The Lecture Theatre and other teaching rooms are designed for students to benefit from a modern digital infrastructure, enabling them to interface with media lecture capture, Ted Talk provision, collaborative breakout sessions, and two-way audio-video communication. The building will host new research centres, large meetings, and other special events to benefit students, academics and industry.

Professor Patrick McCole, Interim Head of Queen’s Business School, said:

“We are grateful to Mark Pigott KBE, Executive Chairman of PACCAR Inc, for his substantial donation to Queen’s Business School, the largest gift of its kind in school history.  The new facilities will allow us to create opportunities for students, faculty, and businesses, to deliver best-in-class educational resources and add value in a local, national, and international context.  The Mark Pigott Lecture Theatre will inspire and prepare the next generation of innovative leaders in business and society.”  

Vice-Chancellor and President of Queen's University Belfast, Professor Ian Greer, added:

“It is a privilege and pleasure to receive this generous support from Mark Pigott and his family. Mark’s personal interest in and engagement with the development of business education at Queen’s and in Northern Ireland is important as the Business School continues to enhance its local and global stature.”

Mark Pigott KBE shared:

“Queen’s University Belfast is undertaking an exciting development programme to construct a world class business school campus that will offer students and faculty the opportunity to strengthen their management skills.  My family is pleased to partner with Queen’s University Belfast in the design of the teaching theatre and to facilitate an enhanced international outlook that will establish a benchmark of global excellence for one of the top business schools in the UK and Ireland. “