Agents appointed for Europe’s first ‘smart town’
Real estate investment, development, and management firm Long Harbour have appointed Colliers and Savills as joint commercial agents for its £2.3bn Fawley Waterside development.
Led by a development company of the same name and located near the New Forest National Park and the port of Southampton, Fawley Waterside is set to be Europe’s first purpose built ‘smart town’, built from the ‘internet-up’ with 5g connectivity and a city-wide ‘Internet of Things’.
The new development is part of the Solent Freeport, offering business rates and tax reliefs to companies as well as customs advantages and planning, trade, and investment support.
Fawley Waterside’s commercial element will offer a 1.5m sq ft life science and technology focussed campus.
Savills said the initiative will position the Solent at the centre of low carbon fuel production in the UK, in a bid to contribute to the country’s Net Zero ambitions by 2050. It added that the project could capture approximately three million tonnes of CO2 every year.
Aldred Drummond, chief executive of Fawley Waterside, said: “Fawley Waterside offers a unique opportunity to locate within the Solent Freeport, enabling companies to take full advantage of the highly favourable tax status, world-class digital connectivity and access to the sea.”