Southampton sets sail

Southampton is one of the major cities in the south of England. Situated in a central position on the south coastline, it has ambition, aspiration and a city community determined to deliver the very best for its residents, businesses and visitors.

The city is also keen to build on its existing successes with new developments. Southampton City Council has just appointed the leading planning and urban design practice David Lock Associates, with internationally renowned Gehl Architects and Urban Quality Consultants, to prepare a masterplan for Southampton City Centre which will clearly show the councils’ ambitious but realistic plans to give Southampton a worldwide profile and reputation as a waterfront city.

This marks the beginning of a new era for the renaissance of Southampton’s city centre, with plans to set out a clear vision for its sustained growth. The city will offer a vibrant, exciting, well designed and maintained sense of place for all who live, visit and work in the city. It will be connected with the waterfront through a series of new public spaces and pedestrian thoroughfares. The public will also benefit from landmark buildings in the city being given enhanced entry points into the city and a waterfront of distinction and international identity.

The city centre developments show how the city’s ambitions will be realised through new facilities, destinations and attractions, which will firmly place Southampton as the region’s economic and social driver.

Southampton’s much heralded new Cultural Quarter is to be a focus for culture-led economic regeneration in the heart of the city. This distinctive quarter will build upon existing cultural activity and maritime history to create one of the most dynamic urban areas along the south coast, celebrating and nurturing the city’s creativity and innovation.

The proposed Arts and Leisure Complex is a major driver in the development of the city’s planned Cultural Quarter.

The complex will have approximately 7,000 sqm of high quality auditoriums, studios and gallery space, directly employing around 140 staff. Southampton City Council has chosen Grosvenor as their preferred developer for this site.

The Guildhall Square, located in the planned Cultural Quarter, is undergoing a dramatic transformation that will stretch from the Guildhall entrance, all the way to the new Arts Complex site, linking through to the city’s parks. Next to the square is the Regional Business Centre, a new six-storey modern office building that not only provides quality office space for businesses but complements the high quality refurbishment of the adjacent square.

Also located in the planned Cultural Quarter is one of the largest inward investment projects in Southampton – Terrace Hill’s £70m mixed-use scheme called Mayflower Plaza. This mixed-use scheme will create 100,000 sq ft of office space, 180 residential units and a hotel. It is a central part of regeneration plans in the city, bringing vibrancy to a strategic gateway to the city centre, not to mention creating around 600 jobs.

Adjacent to this development is Atlantic Housings’ Mayflower Gantry residential scheme. Coinciding with this and already under construction, significant improvements to the Mayflower Theatre will enable it to cope with the demands of larger touring productions from London’s West End. The scheme will also provide a substantial amount of mixed tenure housing to help meet the demand for properties in Southampton.

To the south of the city, near the new IKEA store, one of the most exciting and attractive mixed-use developments in the UK is planned – Hammerson’s Watermark WestQuay. The design of the scheme centres around a new public plaza with the internationally significant medieval town walls forming a spectacular backdrop for a new restaurant quarter and external shopping environment. The proposals also feature a luxury multiplex cinema, a hotel with around 150 bedrooms and a land mark residential building, including approximately 200 apartments. The development is intended to help reinvigorate the southern area of central Southampton and will create over 1,000 new jobs for the city.

Opposite the proposed Watermark WestQuay development and the new Carnival UK Headquarters, Carnival House, Development Securities have planning consent for a 155 bedroom hotel, pre-let to Premier Inn (with retail, office, food and drink uses), plus a new seven storey modern office building offering highly flexible accommodation.

By Southampton Water is one of the South Coast’s prime waterfront development sites – Royal Pier Waterfront. This 24ha development site is owned by Southampton City Council, the Crown Estate and Associated British Ports. Southampton City Council is now seeking expressions of interest from developers to create a high quality mixed use development with an exciting visually stunning landmark structure that will confirm Southampton as a world class waterfront destination.

Ocean Village is another key waterfront location in Southampton. There is a significant amount of existing and planned development which will provide a successful mix of leisure and living facilities, offering events space, marina, a four star hotel and a new public square at the waterfront edge.

The planned 224 bedroom Millennium Hotel will include amenities for marina berth holders; as well as banqueting, conference and events facilities to accommodate over 650 people.

About to be opened at Ocean Village is Southampton’s new Innovation Centre. This provides 3,500 sqm of office accommodation for new knowledge based industries which will benefit from links with the National Oceanography Centre based nearby. This is part of Linden Homes’ residential scheme that is currently under construction, which consists of 130 new residential apartments.

Another residential development is Admiral Quay – Barratt Homes’ prestigious new development, comprising of one and two bedroom apartments and penthouses overlooking the marina at Ocean Village.
Undoubtedly one of Southampton’s biggest developments is Crest Nicholson’s 12.5ha waterfront development in Woolston, Centenary Quay.
 
The proposals for this key site include more than 1,600 new homes (of which 25 percent will be affordable), a hotel, offices, supermarket and library, and a Marine Employment Quarter which will include approx 20,000 sqm of production space for the manufacture of super-yachts of around 100m in length. This will create new high skilled employment opportunities and assist in the revitalisation of Woolston. When completed Centenary Quay will also create up to 1,000 new jobs in Southampton.

Southampton clearly has a great deal in its favour and the huge number of developments going ahead is a sign of how much faith property developers have in the city. When these new developments are completed, the city will truly be of first-class standard for businesses and visitors alike; a truly modern city that embraces its rich cultural past.