SOUTHAMPTON’S skyline is to get a major new addition as work on a 27-storey tower is to get under way in the next few months.

Measuring just over 89m in height – according to sketches – the apartment complex will become the city’s tallest building, housing 165 homes at Woolston’s Centenary Quay.

It comes as part of the area’s £500 million redevelopment, and is the first of three towers – all the same height – to be built on the site.

Announced by developer Crest Nicholson, the high-rise – which overtakes Ocean Village’s 26-storey, 80m Moresby Tower – will be accompanied by a further 103 new low-rise homes made up of apartments and houses.

Work will start in the spring, the developer has confirmed.

More than 850 homes have already been built at the site, and this latest phase of work takes the development a step closer to the 1,620 homes that will complete Centenary Quay. The developer has also confirmed that 25% of the scheme will be affordable housing.

However, when the application was approved back in 2016, residents were left “disgusted and disappointed” after planning chiefs approved proposals to make a riverside walkway, which surrounds the tower, private for residents of the development – blocking off part of a path which originally ran 200 metres across the waterfront.

This was due to a change in plans to house residents in the bottom floor of the 27-storey tower, instead of creating shops and restaurants as previously proposed.

Thus, more than 100 objection were submitted before the scheme was given the go-ahead.

Nevertheless, the developer has now confirmed that, to make up for this, they will extend the existing public riverside walkway, also adding a children’s play space.

However, Woolston councillor Warwick Payne has reiterated local concern.

“There was never great enthusiasm for a large tower at Centenary Quay, especially amongst the people in Woolston who were already living there before the development work started,” said the councillor, who has also been pushing supermarket chain Morrisons to open its formerly-planned store at the waterside development.

“When the tower is build then it’s important that there’s enough parking and infrastructure to deal with the new people who will be coming into the community.

“However, the concern from residents has always been that too much is being crammed into a site that isn’t big enough – and that feeling still exists today.

“[Despite the local annoyance] we couldn’t have had a big batch of concrete – where the ship yards used to stand – lying empty and doing nothing.”

Scott Black, managing director at Crest Nicholson, added: “Centenary Quay is a hugely successful regeneration scheme, with the development already flourishing into a new vibrant community. Our landmark £500 million regeneration of Woolston waterside has breathed new life into a previously derelict area of Southampton.

“Centenary Quay has not only delivered much needed private affordable and rental homes for local people, it has also positively impacted the local economy through direct and indirect employment. Crest Nicholson is continuing to invest in Centenary Quay and I look forward to seeing the scheme progress and our partnership with Homes England grow.”

Stephen Kinsella, executive director for land at Homes England said: “This new phase of development will create one of the tallest residential buildings in the city and really make the most of the waterfront presence of Centenary Quay.

“We’re committed to the growth of a new, sustainable community for people in Southampton and this latest stage of development will provide homes with good access to new employment and leisure opportunities.”