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Disease association studies, designed to identify genetic risk factors for common diseases (e.g. obesity and diabetes), require large numbers of samples from both patients and controls. The existence of a common control cohort that can be used in all diseases would have significant benefits. The National Blood Service and Cambridge University, funded by a grant from the Wellcome Trust, have collected DNA, plasma and viable lymphocytes from approximately 3600 UK blood donors. These samples form the UK Blood Service/Wellcome Trust Control Collection (UK-BS/WT-CC). A training pack was developed for collection teams of the blood services involved. Following training of team staff, donors attending regional blood collection sessions over a 6-month period from September 2005 to February 2006 were asked to consent. For isolation of viable lymphocytes an ACD anti-coagulated blood aliquot was collected. Corresponding plasma and leukocyte filters for DNA isolation were provided by the blood services after the processing of the whole blood donation. The samples were assigned unique numeric identifiers and following sample processing a controlled anonymisation process was performed in which all identifiers linking the sample to the donor were destroyed. In addition, a number of biometric measurements (gender, BMI, height, weight, year of birth) were obtained from each donor at the time of sample collection. This anonymised collection represents a unique public resource of control samples collected from donors throughout the geographical regions of the UK. Currently, 1500 DNA samples are being genotyped on the Affymetrix GeneChip® Human Mapping 500K Array Set as part of the Wellcome Trust Case Control study (http://www.wtccc.org.uk). Here we give an overview of the sample collection and processing together with a description of the phenotypic data that characterise the collection. The UK-BS/WT-CC represents a unique resource that will be available to eligible users via an access committee. The UK-BS/WT-CC places the NHSBT at the forefront of ongoing disease association studies.