Media executive and Boston native Sumner M. Redstone has given $18 million to help expand and improve the facilities of the Boston University School of Law, including construction of a new building adjacent to the school’s core facility.

The new building will be named the Sumner M. Redstone Building. Redstone serves as executive chairman of the board of both CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc. Redstone is the controlling shareholder of both companies through National Amusements Inc., a leading theatrical exhibition company based in Dedham.

Located to the west of the "Law Tower," the new building will provide a new entrance to the law school, as well as house the majority of the school’s classrooms. The Redstone Building will provide space for the expansion of the school’s library, as well as contain facilities to support clinical, transactional, and executive and professional education programs.

"This gift comes at a pivotal moment in the history of our School of Law," Boston University President Robert A. Brown said in a statement, "and it will have a tremendous impact in two ways. First, it will permanently link the school with the Redstone name, which will forever set a high standard for our work in legal education and scholarship. And second, it means that our long-deferred dream of transforming the School of Law campus can now begin with the groundbreaking for this new building."