Southampton looking for plan B at Vosper's site after Palmer Johnson job cuts (From Daily Echo)

Southampton looking for plan B at Vosper's site after Palmer Johnson job cuts

8:42am Wednesday 18th August 2010 in

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CITY chiefs are now working on a “plan B” for the former VT site in Southampton after super-yacht builder Palmer Johnson admitted that its project to build a major boatyard there was under review.

The sought-after riverfront site was to create 800 jobs producing 100m-long luxury yachts for the world’s wealthy before the economic slump holed the dream beneath the waterline.

Business has been so bad US-based Palmer Johnson is shutting its Hythe site with the loss of 110 jobs after building just one boat.

It said that no decision had been made about the planned Woolston facility, despite winning planning permission and aiming to start work last year.

A spokesman said: “That now has to be reviewed. Essentially the marketplace for luxury yachts has contracted significantly during the financial slowdown and it’s a question of at what point there will be an upturn.

“We are in negotiations with SEEDA over when we build the site. In 18 months to two years’ time, if things go well, Palmer Johnson could be on site building yachts. No decision has been taken at this time. It is purely a matter of capacity. At the moment there is too much capacity and not enough demand.”

But city bosses and regional development agency SEEDA, which lured Palmer Johnson to Southampton in the teeth of fierce international competition, are already planning for life after luxury yachts.

The news will delight a number of UK-based marine operators who had hoped to take over the former warship building facility, which has a rare deep water berth, before it was all handed over to Palmer Johnson.

SEEDA admitted to talks with alternative firms, but declined to give further detail.

A spokesman said: “The site at Woolston is of significant national and international importance to the marine industry.

“We remain in discussion with Palmer Johnson, given their stated intention to locate there, and are disappointed for those staff at Hythe who are being made redundant.

“Given the importance and value of the Woolston site, we are also speaking with a number of other investors, as you would expect.”

Royston Smith, leader of Southampton City Council, said: “We can’t just keep waiting for Palmer Johnson, although they are our first choice. We need to start working on a plan B.

“It is a valuable piece of land. It’s a fantastic opportunity and it’s not good to keep it lying there empty. We need to generate some activity on it and some employment.”