MarineSpace

How a market leader in marine planning and environmental consultancy has powered ahead thanks to office support by Ocean Village Innovation Centre.

Founded in 2006 by director Stuart Lowe, MarineSpace was one of OVIC’s first customers and now has a fourth-floor office overlooking the Port of Southampton and berthing cruise vessels such as Cunard’s flagship Queen Victoria. The firm, which provides a wide range of coast-to-deep-sea services and repeatedly delivers on challenging projects for marine developers, celebrated its 10^th milestone anniversary in September 2016. Like many businesses at OVIC, MarineSpace started out with a two-person desk before seamlessly moving to larger premises on site as employee numbers increased. Pictured here is Dr Dafydd Lloyd Jones, one of four directors at the company, which is highly regarded for its environmental impact assessments and other consultancy services. Dr Lloyd Jones, like other peers in his field have been known to do, sometimes tastes silt in ports and harbours to ascertain grain size before scientific analysis begins! 

There are now 15 staff at MarineSpace, with the main office at OVIC and two others in Peterborough and Pembroke Dock, Wales.  Support from the OVIC team has meant the early-growth firm could increase its footprint at the thriving innovation centre, which is opposite the world-renowned National Oceanography Centre, to suit the pace of change and budget.