Affiliated to the University of Liverpool since 1973, the present Institute is an amalgamation of two former institutions: the Liverpool Observatory and the University of Liverpool Tidal Institute. The buildings serving the Institute have been: an observatory on Waterloo Dock Pier head built 1845, later demolished; a new observatory at Bidston occupied from 1867; a new laboratory next to the observatory at Bidston which came into use in summer 1975. A purpose built building in the University Precinct, formally opened on 23 June 2004.

There have been several changes of name over the years: Liverpool Observatory, Tidal Institute, Liverpool Observatory and Tidal Institute, Liverpool University Tidal Institute and Observatory, Institute of Coastal Oceanography and Tides, Institute of Oceanographic Sciences, Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, and now the National Oceanography Centre.