focus on southampton 27 Masterplan takes shape
Southampton masterplan projects and developments are taking shape, some altering the city’s skyline – like the new Police Station – whilst others have reached completion and been featured in The Business Magazine, among them the Ocean Village Innovation Centre, which is now home to Business Southampton.
The masterplan features a new economic blueprint for Southampton and promises to bring more than 25,000 new jobs and 5,000 new homes to the city by 2026. Southampton City Council has a driving ambition to secure the city’s future by developing it as first choice destination for big business, tourists and shoppers.
Southampton’s new Central Police Station, at the junction of West Quay Road, Southern Road and Mountbatten Way, opened on March 7. External construction on the station, which will also be the
area headquarters, was completed in 2010, before an internal fitout. Hampshire Constabulary staff moved from the old Southampton Central Police Station premises at the Civic Centre, with some teams moving from other stations in the city. The new landmark eight- storey building at this important gateway into the city centre provides modern fit-for-purpose facilities to help local police provide the best service for residents as well as providing improved working conditions for police officers and staff in the city. An official opening is planned for summer.
The future of the Admirals Quay development in Ocean Village development has been secured, since Barratt Homes sold the site to Southampton-based Allied Developments, which will take the development forward. It will include apartments, retail and restaurants, creating new jobs and
investment in the popular harbour area.
A new Maritime and Marine Innovation Quarter at the former Vosper Thornycroft site at Woolston is set to bring approximately 700 new jobs to the city. This will complement the work already started on site at Centenary Quay. The new Quarter will also boost Southampton’s national reputation and potential as a hub of marine innovation. The South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) and Southampton City Council, backed by private sector finance and development, have come together in a partnership to develop the Quarter, which has attracted strong interest from manufacturers.
Associated British Ports (ABP) has presented its plans for a new fifth cruise terminal at the Port of Southampton. The new terminal will be designed to accommodate the largest vessels afloat. It is
expected that work will start this year and it will become operational in 2013.
ABP Southampton is proceeding with an £80m investment in container berth development to handle larger vessels, having received consent from the Marine Management Organisation for the construction of a new quay wall at Berths 201 and 202. Consent was received at the same time as Network Rail completed extensive works to upgrade the rail capacity for containers moving between the port and the West Coast Mainline.
Southampton Central Station is being completely refurbished, with work due for completion towards the end of the year, whilst Tudor House and Garden will open again to the public in summer following renovation. Arguably Southampton’s most important historic building, there will be opportunities to book the café, gardens and function room for events including meetings and seminars.
Ford – a beacon for manufacturing ’Sysbrain’ thinks for itself
The world’s first control system that will allow engineers to programme autonomous satellites and spacecraft to think for themselves has been developed by scientists from the University of Southampton.
Business Southampton City Champions focused on the important role of manufacturing when they visited the Ford assembly plant in Southampton.
With approximately 5,000 jobs in the region dependent on the plant, it has an important role to play in the economy of the city region. Business Southampton CEO Sally Lynskey addressed business leaders on the key role manufacturing has to play in the recovery, which was reiterated by plant manager Thomas Fischer.
Rob Ardley, HR manager, added: “It was great to have this opportunity to show off the site to City Champions and share experiences with business leaders.“
The Ford Transit, which has been produced in Southampton since 1972, is a British icon and has been the UK’s best selling van since it went on sale in 1965, outselling its nearest rival by about three- to-one.
The factory operates a single shift system to meet demand
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – APRIL 2011
and a Transit is produced every two minutes, with approximately 50% exported. The five millionth Transit was produced last year – the year of its 40th anniversary.
Lynskey concluded: “We were delighted so many City Champions signed up for this event. It proves there is a real interest in the Ford plant by the wider business community and I think it opened many people’s eyes as to the hands-on world of a manufacturing business.“
Professor Sandor Veres and his team of engineers have developed a cognitive software agent control system called ’sysbrain’. Using natural language programming (NLP), the software agents can read special English language technical documents on control methods. This gives the vehicles advanced guidance, navigation and feedback capabilities to stop them crashing into other objects, agent-based control with mission execution capabilities and the ability to recognise and reconfigure faults.
Veres, who is leading the EPSRC- funded project, explained: “This is the world’s first publishing system of technical knowledge for machines and opens the way for engineers to publish control instructions to machines directly.“
www.businessmag.co.uk
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