Southampton Talls Approved

A new 16 floor hotel that could be one of the tallest buildings to be built in the city of Southampton on the south coast of England since the 1960s has been approved by the local council.The Ocean Village Hotel on Ocean Village Marina has been designed by hotel specialists Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo who previously worked on such buildings as Claridges in London. Developers, Millennium Copthorne Group, hope their choice of architect will bring a touch of class to the project. Conservatively clad in reflective blue glass and white render the dock side project will be mainly a four star hotel with 225 bedrooms, however there will also be restaurant, conference facilities and a marina control centre. Sources say that construction for this is due to start later this year.In height terms the scheme might have some competition from Woolston Riverside that was also approved at the very same planning meeting although there is little overlap between the two projects, they are largely complementary of each other in terms of what they offer.Woolston Riverside is a massive development with 6 tall buildings plus many smaller ones, 37 more to be precise. This will contain a mixture of commercial space and an enormous 1,500 new homes including apartments in an 80.5m tall residential tower, all in an attempt to regenerate the former Vosper Thornycroft Shipyard. It's been master-planned by the Richard Rogers Partnership and site owners, the South East England Development Agency, who bought the site for £360 million hope that they can begin construction in 2007. Southampton hasn't had the easiest of times as much of the industry that made it into a city around the docks has vanished leaving large rundown areas that are perfect for development. Commercial success of these two projects could provide initial momentum encouraging further regeneration in the area.