focus on portsmouth
Work starts on new UK Maritime Centre of Excellence
The MP for Portsmouth North, Penny Mordaunt joined QinetiQ and the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) at Portsdown Technology Park on to mark the official start of work on the site. The £23 million redevelopment project will generate up to 100 jobs and create a new UK Centre of Excellence for Maritime Mission Systems.
The redevelopment project includes the development of a brand new building, increasing the site’s capacity, plus the introduction of an Innovation and Collaboration Hub that will work with small and medium-sized businesses, attracting the best local talent and developing Maritime Mission System capability for UK and international markets.
Solent LEP is contributing £5m to the project via the Government’s Local Growth Fund, alongside QinetiQ’s investment of over £18m.
Penny Mordaunt MP, secretary of state for international development, said: “The creation of the UK Centre of Excellence for Maritime Mission Systems here in the Solent is testament to the expertise of the people
from the area and its ongoing commitment to supporting the brave women and men of the Royal Navy. Attracting other maritime organisations to the area, this development will provide more jobs for local people and boost our economy.”
Anne-Marie Mountifield, Solent LEP chief executive, who attended the event, said: “This Innovation and Collaboration Hub is an exciting development that will showcase the Solent’s maritime mission systems excellence. This new Centre will bring together the leading edge activity that QinetiQ is undertaking with the pioneering work that our local small businesses are driving forward. It will undoubtedly further cement the position of the Solent as a world-class maritime hub in a world-class location and deliver on our ambition to develop new global markets.”
Steve Fitz-Gerald, QinetiQ’s managing director of maritime, land and weapons, added: “This is a significant development for QinetiQ, its customers and the local economy. It demonstrates our clear commitment to create a truly world-class
From left: Fleur Antoine-Wilmot, project manager, Qineti; Penny Mordaunt MP; and Steve Fitz-Gerald, managing director, QinetiQ
centre in the Solent region for innovation, integration and testing of maritime mission systems.”
The aims of the National Maritime Systems Centre and Innovation and Collaboration Hub at the Portsdown Technology Park include:
• Delivering a step change in the Solent region’s ability to export to the world’s marine and maritime defence markets, improving its international competitiveness.
• Strengthening and extending existing maritime and marine capabilities in the Solent.
• Creating new, hi-tech, highly-skilled engineering, science and technology jobs.
2019 begins the way 2018 ended: with increasing commercial property activity across the South Coast
With Q1 2019 almost complete, Tom Holloway and Stuart Mitchell give their views on commercial property activity across the South Coast. Portsmouth-based Holloway Iliffe & Mitchell specialises in office and industrial agency, valuation, management and professional advice, drawing on the team’s wide-ranging experience
The principal themes seen throughout 2018 were the strength of the freehold market and specific interest in industrial space, and as 2019 begun, this continues. One example came at The Potteries in Fareham, where well-appointed offices of 4,000 sq ft had been available to lease but with little interest. On our appointment as agents, we recommended the property be offered for sale, resulting in an agreed deal and exchange within a month.
The regional focus is very much on the industrial sector with several speculative developments recently or close to completion, including Merlin Park in Portsmouth, Velocity in Havant and Daedalus Park in Lee-on-the- Solent.
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Key to our client relationships is being able to offer more than one service. Towards the end of 2018, we advised on the acquisition of The Briars Business Park and following the deal’s completion have since been appointed as both management and leasing agent for the site.
When viewed as a whole, the market continues to be active, whether in spite or because of Brexit, it is difficult to know. Businesses are still growing, and with that growth can come the need to move. Occupiers can overthink the move option when they could repurpose their existing space. Where the decision to relocate is based on a lease event, the result of several transactions we have been involved with has been a successful renegotiation of a new lease and a
revised office plan with a new fit-out to give the additional space originally required.
The first two months of 2019 have already been busy. There is without doubt a certain amount of caution based on the uncertainly of Brexit, but we are optimistic that the South Coast is quite well placed to weather the storm and more widely the market won’t stagnate to the same degree it did a decade ago.
023 9237 7800
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THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – MARCH/APRIL 2019
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