City, University of London 2001, a fire in the college building gutted the fourth floor offices and roof. In August 2001 City and the Inns of Court School of Law agreed to merge. Following a donation from Sir John Cass's Foundation, a multimillion-pound building was built at 106 Bunhill Row for the Cass Business School. A new £23 million building to house the School of Social Sciences and the Department of Language and Communication Science was opened in 2004. The reconstruction and redevelopment of the university's Grade II listed college building (following the fire in 2001) was completed in July 2006. In 2007 the
Sir John Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design London, purpose designed for the Cass by Florian Beigel and Philip Christou and is named after philanthropist Sir John Cass, who helped establish funding for education in Aldgate. Controversy erupted in late 2015 after Metropolitan University unveiled plans to cut many of the Cass's signature programmes while moving the Cass from its traditional Aldgate location (which would be sold) to its Holloway campus; this plan attracted opposition from many of Britain's most renowned artists and designers. Senior members of the faculty, such as dean Robert Mull, resigned in protest over the decision and other initiatives, amid protests by students and