IT is a collaboration that is set to transform the way business and academics work together, while bringing world-leading research and new jobs to Hampshire.

A gleaming new £116m state-of-the- art centre of excellence is to be built on a flagship Southampton site, which will see marine giant Lloyd’s Register relocate its research experts to a new home in the city.

The new buildings will stand on the derelict Boldrewood site on the corner of Bassett Avenue and Burgess Road. Work will start in the new year, and the first phase is due to be completed by 2014.

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The project could create hundreds of jobs, with industry professional roles moving to Southampton and major construction work over the next three years.

Around 500 staff and students from the University of Southampton will work alongside experts from the risk assessment group at a new technology and education campus, in a partnership the university believes will “redefine the relationship between academia and business”.

The research hub will be focussed on engineering innovations in the fields of transport, energy and the environment, with projects including cleaner fuels and safer work environments.

It is hoped a new Maritime Institute will strengthen links with marine firms and create new businesses, putting Southampton at the heart of investment in the sector within the UK.

Funding for the scheme is coming from the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the South of England Economic Development Agency.

As well as the university’s Centre of Excellence, the campus will include the Lloyd’s Register Group Technology Centre, which will form the “cornerstone of the organisation’s global research and development network”.

The university’s vice-chancellor, Professor Don Nutbeam last night described the project, which comes in the tenth year of an existing partnership between the institution and Lloyd’s Register, as “excellent news” for both parties, as well as Southampton and the country as a whole.

He said: “Research and innovation are key drivers for building a strong knowledge economy, and we know that governments around the world are looking to collaborations such as ours to help secure a strong economic future.”

The announcement comes just months after it was revealed 250-year-old Lloyd’s Register had put plans to move its headquarters to Southampton on hold.

It was last night unclear whether that project to relocate 400 staff from London and create 100 more high-wage jobs in the city will now still go ahead.