A BUILDING that became the model for student accommodation across the world was officially renamed in honour of its founder last night.

Josceline Dimbleby, the great-great-granddaughter of Canon David Melville, founding principal of Hatfield College, Durham, in 1846, performed the ceremony at the refurbished residential block.

The 28 en-suite rooms in the Melville Building, the country's first purpose-built college hall of residence, carry the highest grade rating, four-diamond status, in the ranks of student accommodation.

College master Professor Tim Burt said: "It's important to say that this is the place where student accommodation, as we now know it throughout the world, first started.

"The concept of study bedrooms and a communal dining room was initiated and invented by Josceline's great-great-grandfather.

"It, therefore, seemed there was nothing more appropriate than to mark the refurbishment by renaming it the Melville Building."

Ms Dimbleby said it was an honour to be asked to perform the ceremony and that she hoped her great-great-grandfather was looking down on proceedings.