By Gavin Hall, Head Of Office, Savills – Southampton
The Central South is a pioneering region with a thirst for new ideas, shaped by its coastline, global connections and outstanding talent base with world-leading employers and educational facilities.
The area, centred around the conurbations of Southampton, Portsmouth, Winchester, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, provides the bedrock for the future of the UK in a redefined international geography post-withdrawal from the EU.
The Central South is home to the UK’s global gateway with the UK’s leading export port at Southampton, and with 90 per cent of exports going outside of Europe, the Central South is well placed to redistribute goods from the Far East to Europe as well as pivotal to the UK’s growth itself in imports.
SOUTHAMPTON INTERNATIONAL PORT
But it is not all about importing and exporting. Significant global and national employers are also based here, from public sector organisations including the Royal Navy to internationally renowned private sector organisations such as IBM, Lloyd’s Register and CooperVision, as well as international household names originating from the region in the first place, such as Sunseeker and Lush Cosmetics.
Equally, world renowned education establishments, including the University of Southampton Science Park and the National Oceanography Centre, combine to provide a region with experience, talent and knowledge. The local universities’ strengths are well-matched to the growth sectors of the economy which enables the region to be future ready. With more than 110,000 students in education within the Central South’s 11 universities, around 25,000 graduates will enter the workforce locally each year. With 28 per cent of the population being under 25 years old, the region has a talented emerging workforce.
Whilst house prices are high, the quality of life is second to none with water to the south, National Parks to the southwest and northeast and a thriving cultural offer, community and deep heritage throughout the region. The Central South is the place to work, live and play!
With median house prices above the national average – £358,000 in the Central South compared with the UK average of £255,000 – there is an acute need for development in the area in order to assist to deliver the homes needed in this region given this is where people want to live.
The public and private sector in the Central South are working closely together, as demonstrated by the Central South consortium attending MIPIM, collaborating to tackle this challenge head on. We would welcome anyone that might like to play a role in being part of the Central South story, be they employer, investor or developer. In this way we will retain the emerging workforce to grow the local economy and deliver in a socially and environmentally efficient way.
OCEAN VILLAGE, SOUTHAMPTON
Savills is one of the UK’s leading multi-sector global property advisors. We take an innovative approach to real estate, with a strong client focus, commitment to our people and unrivalled market insight and expertise. We provide a complete range of property solutions throughout the life-cycle of any real estate asset nationwide, advising landlords and tenants alike, as well as providing bespoke, integrated development services for landowners, developers, occupiers and investors across residential, commercial and mixed-use projects. Across the Central South, our local sector experts cover Southampton, Bournemouth, Poole, Salisbury, Winchester and Portsmouth, where we have a strong focus on urban regeneration, waterfront development, marine planning and Environmental Impact Assessment.
As featured in Central South’s PROSPER Magazine – download the full magazine here.
