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Construction veteran David Wilson has become one of the leading donors to the University of Leicester’s £12.6 million heart research centre at Glenfield Hospital. He has handed over half a million pounds to help equip the Cardiovascular Research Centre.

The donation – made through the charitable David Wilson Foundation – will also pay for a bio-bank fitted with robotic equipment and capable of processing and storing biological samples from 100,000 individuals.

David Wilson’s building company – Leicester- based Davidsons Developments – has performed well despite the slump in the house building sector. In 2010-11 the company made a profit of £2 million on sales of £30.8 million.

Housing developments from Davidsons, which has assets of more than £80 million, include housing developments in Rainworth and Gresley in Nottinghamshire, Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire and Long Eaton and Melbourne in Derbyshire . These houses, like all homes built by Davidsons, can be indentified by the distinctive “rose” logo in wood or stone included in the structure.

This is David Wilson’s second go at running a house building company. The record-breaking £2.2 billion takeover of his Leicestershire-based property group Wilson Bowdon by rivals Barratt Developments put more than £700 million into the Wilson family coffers.

Former chairman David Wilson – who together with his family owned 33 per cent of the business – said the deal was the best way forward for the business. The takeover created the biggest home-builder in Britain.

Unfortunately, of the £700 million Barratt paid to David Wilson and family holdings, only £300 million was paid in cash. The rest was in shares and the value of those shares went through the floor.

The value of his remaining Barratt stake is worth around £17 million.