IT’S the new £140m centre that could lead to ground-breaking research being developed in Southampton.

Work on Lloyd’s Register’s new global technology centre at the University of Southampton has now finished, and the Daily Echo went inside to get a first glimpse of the state-of-the-art facility.

By November shipping giant Lloyd’s Register will have moved all 400 of its marine staff to the centre, which it says is part of the biggest university and industry collaboration of its kind in the world.

Based on the Boldrewood Innovation Campus, the new centre sits next to the university’s engineering and environment faculty and the Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute (SMMI).

Bosses at Lloyd’s Register, which was formed in London 255 years ago, say that the new centre will host global marine and technology research which will see its own experts working alongside university staff.

It is hoped that it will lead to groundbreaking innovation in the world of shipping.

Among the areas the firm’s experts have worked in are energy management, materials, design, propulsion systems and cold climate technology.

Marine director Tom Boardley said: “We want to stimulate innovation and we want to create the right environment for a transformation in understanding and tackling the challenges shipping faces.

“This new centre provides the right environment for us to develop and provide the support that ship owners, shipbuilders and all our stakeholders need.”

A report released by Lloyd’s Register in 2012 predicted that there will be twice as much demand for maritime trade by 2030, meaning that there will be an ever-increasing demand for the technological developments hatched at the new centre.

The company’s new marine chief operation officer, Nick Brown, said: “Today, the availability of new designs, price uncertainty and new environmental regulations is adding layers of complexity to the decision-making of our clients as they look to optimise performance.

“By working with industry, technologists and academics, we can help people make the best possible commercial decisions based on the best possible technical insight to help the industry reduce risk while maximising opportunity.”

Professor Ajit Shenoi, from SMMI, says he hopes that the new environment will lead to radical new ideas being formed that will transform the future of shipping.

He said: “It’s about giving thought to what will be on the agenda in five or ten years, and giving people the space to think so far ahead requires the environment that this new initiative will create.

“But while we’re shaping the future, we also have to think about short- term problems.”