Public Sector
Published: February 21, 2025 | Updated: 21st February 2025
Southampton City Council has shared plans for a complete regeneration of the city centre, which it says is “poised for transformation”.
The “Renaissance Vision” for Southampton is focused on six key themes – enhancing the waterfront, fostering innovation, making the city more sustainable, supporting both new and existing neighbourhoods, improving connectivity and creating a network of destinations for visitors.
Proposals for the waterfront include a major new urban district – West Bay – as well as the renewal of Mayflower Park, Town Quay and Ocean Village.
On innovation, the council is keen to support Southampton and Solent universities in their operations and provide a series of creative and enterprise hubs throughout the city centre.
There are plans for new urban neighbourhoods at West Bay, Mayflower Waterfront and St Mary’s Waterfront, plus the renewal of the city’s public housing stock.
To maintain Southampton as a top destination for visitors, there’d be significant investment in sports and entertainment around St Mary’s Stadium, a regeneration of the Civic Centre and the introduction of independent cultural, food and art venues across the city.
All this would be supported by a new mass rapid transit system for Greater Southampton and improvements at transport hubs like Southampton Central Station – as well as, in the long term, a new water mobility hub at Town Quay.
That was the vision laid out at a launch event last week attended by key representatives from the city’s development and property sectors.
“Southampton has a once in a generation opportunity,” the prospectus for the project reads.
“We’re set to witness a new era for our city centre – a renaissance that draws on Southampton’s deep heritage and global outlook to propel us forward to the future.
“Our primary goal is to shape Southampton into a vibrant, thriving city that realises its incredible potential, aligning public and private sectors together with our major institutions around a unified agenda for growth.”
To that end, the project is now seeking investors to complement a proposed new fund from the council which would see £8 million of public money invested every year up to 2028/29.
