THE UNVEILING of a multi-million pound research centre is set to be a right royal affair tomorrow.

HRH The Princess Royal will be coming to Southampton to launch the University of Southampton’s Boldrewood Campus.

Earlier this year plans were revealed to transform the campus into a £36m centre which university bosses hope could lead to ground-breaking research.

The campus will be a hub for innovation, business and education and will unite the university with Lloyd’s Register, who have collaborated on research projects for more than 40 years focusing on marine engineering and engineering sciences.

Now Princess Anne will be coming to officially unveil the new centre and support the plans, which could be completed by 2017.

Professor William Powrie, Dean of the university’s Faculty of Engineering and the Environment, said: “The building will replace and enhance facilities in vital infrastructure research and teaching currently based on the university’s nearby Highfield Campus.

Daily Echo: The Boldrewood campus

“It will enable us to develop our world-leading research and enterprise activities in Engineering and the Environment as part of the Boldrewood Innovation Campus which is also home to Lloyd’s Register’s Global Technology Centre and other major facilities including a state of the art towing tank and other advanced fluid dynamics experimental facilities.

“The addition of the new building will make this a flagship campus for the university and for the region in terms of its capacity to make major advances at national and international levels in engineering projects aligned to areas of infrastructure and rail transport – a major area of expertise and specialism for Southampton.

“We expect the expanded range of activity that the new facilities will enable will lead to new jobs, both directly and in due course by businesses becoming established or relocated to the area to exploit the synergies offered.”

The campus is home to the university’s faculty of engineering and the environment and Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute, as well as Lloyd’s Register’s Global Technology Centre.

When completed the centre will host world-class research facilities like an anechoic wind chamber, advanced fluid dynamics and experimental facilities which will be used across a range of disciplines including civil engineering and aerospace, and a 140-metre towing tank that will provide detailed research on new maritime technologies.

While in Hampshire the Princess Royal will also be visiting17 Port and Maritime Regiment RLC, at the Sea Mounting Centre (SMC) and McMullen Barracks in Marchwood.

As Colonel in Chief Royal Logistic Corps, the Princess Royal will present Meritorious Services Medals to two personnel from 17 Port and Maritime.