The University has celebrated the official opening of the refurbished Florey Building, which has a strong history in medical research.

The renovated building was opened by Vice Chancellor Brian Schmidt who acknowledged the importance of the heritage building and its benefit to staff and students.

"The design of the new building means it can be many things to many people - state of the art medical labs, modern office accommodation, student teaching and learning spaces, breakout spaces and private spaces," he said.

The building has been named after Sir Howard Florey, a Nobel Laureate who converted penicillin into an antibiotic.

"The establishment of a National Institute for Medical Research was the brainchild of Nobel Laureate Florey and he was very prescriptive in his ideas about the design of the building," said Professor Schmidt.

The heritage building provides an eclectic old versus new aesthetic. It even has the original bells, whistles, gauges and switches.

It will be used by several groups including the ANU Medical School, the Centre for Research on Ageing, Health & Wellbeing of the Research School of Population Health and the Research School of Earth Sciences.

The new-look Florey Building has already won two architecture awards - the National Trust (ACT) Award for a Significant Contribution to Heritage Conservation, and the Australian Institute of Architects (ACT) J.S Murdoch Heritage Award.