In the largest research collaboration of its kind in the UK, the new research hub will focus on innovations in transport, energy and the environment.
Hundreds of staff and students from the university together with engineering and technical staff from Lloyd’s Register will work together at a new technology and education campus.
The first phase of the development at the university’s former Boldrewood campus is scheduled for completion in 2014.
Work will commence next year on the University of Southampton Centre of Excellence, which will cost£116m.
The campus will include the Lloyd’s Register Group Technology Centre, the cornerstone of the organisation’s global research and development network.
Southampton University has received funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the South of England Economic Development Agency to enable the new Centre of Excellence to take shape.