A UNIVERSITY has paid tribute to one of the most eminent figures in its past by naming a building after him.

In a ceremony at Teesside University yesterday, the computer and mathematical sciences building was renamed The Greig Building, after Bill Greig, founder of computer sciences there.

Mr Greig, who lived in Cotherstone, near Barnard Castle, was a Teesdale district councillor for 12 years until his retirement from politics in 1999. He joined what was then Constantine College in 1956, becoming head of the mathematics and computing department and launching Teesside's first computer science degree, in 1966.

Mr Greig, who died earlier this year aged 85, is credited with Teesside's reputation for computing excellence from the 1960s onwards.

Past and present members of the university's computing and mathematics department and those of its predecessors, Teesside Polytechnic and Constantine College, along with members of Mr Greig's family, attended yesterday's ceremony.

Professor Jim Yip, director of the department, said: "Bill played a significant part in the development of computing into a leading academic discipline, both at Teesside and nationally, and we thought it appropriate to name one of our main buildings after him.