The next complex will be home to the Marshall Institute for Philanthropy and Social Entrepreneurship and will also contain teaching, sports and arts facilities.

Last September the LSE awarded Mace the contract to deliver the £123m redevelopment of its Centre Buildings in London – the university’s largest construction scheme in 70 years. Works are due to start on site July and be completed November 2018.

The new Paul Marshall Building at Lincoln’s Inn Fields has attracted a line-up of striking rival designs from six internationally renown architects.

Julian Robinson, LSE’s Director of Estates said: “The amount of analysis and intellectual effort that has gone into the designs from each team is staggering and the results are impressive and very exciting. Given its size and prime location on Lincoln’s Inn Fields we want this to be a seminal university building; its legacy will endure for many generations so it is vital that we make the right decision.”

In April 2016, the six teams will make a presentation to a jury panel chaired by Professor Craig Calhoun, Director and President of LSE, with an announcement on the winning team due from the School later in the Spring of 2016.

Paul Marshall is a major benefactor of LSE, having recently contributed £30m – the School’s largest private philanthropic donation – for the creation of the Marshall Institute for Philanthropy and Social Entrepreneurship and towards the redevelopment of 44 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, which was purchased by LSE in 2013 from Cancer Research UK.

The new building will also house the academic departments of Accounting, Finance and Management.