MSc Study Week 19-26 March 2012

Field Trip to Daedalus

Full-time and distance-learning students on the MSc Project Management in the Built Environment have come together on campus for their second Study Week. The first day was spent on a field trip to the Solent Enterprise Zone at Daedalus in South Hampshire. The Solent Enterprise Zone is one of 24 set up nationally to support local economic and employment growth and is based on a former Ministry of Defence airfield site at Lee-on-the-Solent, a superb coastal location between the cities of Portsmouth and Southampton. For more information about the heritage and history of the site take a look at the Daedalus Heritage website.

Daedalus Enterprise Zone - image from the Invest in Portsmouth website

The award of Enterprise Zone status provides the area with a unique and exciting opportunity for a sustainable, high quality mixed-use development to revitalise and transform the area which has a strong legacy in advanced manufacturing in the marine, aerospace and aviation sectors. The Enterprise Zone covers 82 hectares in four main areas and the following key facts about the proposals for development are taken from the Daedalus website:

• There is a mainly greenfield area in the north west of the site, which will shortly have its own dedicated access and could be a secure site for defence industries. 
• There is a greenfield area in the east of the site where we expect serviced plots for development and potentially new buildings to be provided in the short term. This will link with a new road access that we propose to develop shortly. 
• The gateway zone to the Enterprise Zone around the current Broom Way entrance in the south east of Daedalus, which will be developed first. Given the prominence of the location, we would like to see high quality development in this area.
• A mixed development area in the Gosport waterfront which includes a conservation area around ex-Royal Navy listed buildings. These will become small offices, residential units and a hotel. Some existing hangars will be refurbished and some new development will take place. 

The MSc students standing in front of the Ward Room. The Ward Room was built in the 1930s and contained the officers mess and quarters - photo by George Blumberg

The site is still used as an airfield - to get a feel for the scale of the site watch this video of Air Search Pilot Steve Miles landing at Daedalus.

BTW, do you know why the name Daedalus was chosen for the site? It is named after a famous warship which was based at Lee-on-Solent. Read the story here.