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Positive outlook for city’s economy
Southampton and the South Coast region is set to attract millions of pounds' worth of investment as developers look to put their money in places outside of London, according to a recent report published by property consultancy JLL.
As developers struggle to extract value from the competitive London market, JLL predicts that more investors will follow in the footsteps of London-based organisations such as Grosvenor, which is creating a new arts complex in Southampton, and Hammerson, the company behind the city’s £80 million retail and leisure development.
“There’s no doubt that there’s a real sense of gathering momentum in Southampton at the moment and the city is entering a new phase of rapid growth,” said Michael Green, head of JLL’s Southampton office. “Southampton has a unique opportunity now to capitalise on this period of relative political and economic
Driverless cars project gets on the road
Researchers from the University of Southampton will be working on a new £11 million research programme to develop fully autonomous cars.
The programme, jointly funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Jaguar Land Rover, is made up of five new projects, involving 10 UK universities and the Transport Research Laboratory.
The University of Southampton, in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, will lead the Human Interaction: Designing Autonomy in Vehicles (HI:DAV) project to investigate how drivers will react to new autonomous systems.
Using Southampton’s driving simulator, which comprises a Jaguar XJ connected to computers with large projectors and screens, the team will test drivers of different ages, gender, experience and capabilities, in a
range of scenarios (eg different road types and environmental conditions) with different automation systems (eg autonomous driving, auto 'valet' parking, adaptive vehicle personalisation, off-road assistance) and different interfaces.
The studies will then progress from the simulator to the test-track, as driver and vehicle interaction and interface designs evolve with testing.
On the test-track, the physiological and psychological states of driver behaviour will be recorded to see what further changes are needed and whether the automation can be even more highly tailored.
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – NOVEMBER 2015
Professor Neville Stanton from the University of Southampton, who is leading the HI:DAV project, said: “Highly automated vehicles are likely to be on public roads within the next 10 years. The largest gap in our understanding of vehicle automation is how drivers will react to this new technology and how best to design the driver-automation interaction.
“This project will answer these questions by studying a wide range of drivers with different driving experience. This approach aims to personalise the driver interfaces to the widest range of drivers possible so that the system adapts to the driver, rather than the driver having to adapt to the system.”
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stability. New developments are now underway that will inject new life into the city, and attracting major players from the capital will play an important part in fulfilling this ambition.
“There seems to be a particular focus on the rejuvenation of Southampton’s cultural and arts scene, with investment by Southampton Solent University to create new teaching spaces, conference facilities and exhibition space at its East Park Terrace Campus as well as Grosvenor’s new arts complex on Above Bar Street.
“There’s some way to go before the city can rival the likes of Liverpool or Glasgow but the building blocks are certainly now in place and we expect more investment in Southampton’s cultural offer over the next five years.”
JLL’s annual South Coast Metropole report also examines the dramatic changes taking place in the office market as occupiers look for smaller and more-flexible space. Green said: “Of course
technology is a major factor and offices now need to be ‘smart’ too. The challenge for the property market is to keep pace with this as technology is currently advancing faster than the built environment can adapt.”
With regard to industry, Green said the absence of speculative development over the past six years is taking its toll and the region is not able to meet the current demand from industrial occupiers. “However, 2015 is turning out to be a landmark year with the re-emergence of speculative development in the region including Glenmore Business Park in Chichester, Daedalus Park in Lee-on-the-Solent, Andover Business Park and Evolution 50 at Walworth Business Park.
“We remain upbeat about the outlook for our region," he added. "Southampton is entering an exciting period of growth and development with some key sites that have been neglected for years on the cusp of transformation.”
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