The Woolf Institute in Cambridge, dedicated to the study of Christian-Jewish-Muslim relations, held a ground-breaking ceremony for its new home on the Westminster College site in the centre of the city.

Scheduled for completion in summer 2017, the new premises will enable the institute to accommodate growing student numbers and research, addressing issues such as end-of-life care and foreign policy.

It will also allow the provision of expanded in-house conference facilities for intensive learning courses, as well as a modern library and media centre.

An e-learning facility will serve the institute's global audience, including students and academics from as far afield as Australia, America, Israel and Indonesia.

Founder and director Dr Ed Kessler said that, in 17 years, the institute had become a leader in its field, "an independent but close partner of the University of Cambridge and a natural home for conversation and dialogue between some of the leading professionals, academics and lay leaders concerned with religion.

"Today marks the next step on our journey to increase understanding of the forces which look set to shape world events for the rest of the 21st century."