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Southampton Solent University logo

MScSustainable Marine Craft and Superyacht Design

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Starting in: 2025
Entry requirements: 2:1
Or higher
Up to: 20% alumni discountFind out more
Campus: Southampton City CentreView on Google Maps

Why study a sustainable marine craft and superyacht design master's degree at Solent University

Discover latest techniques to develop new, sustainable superyacht and marine craft designs. Benefit from the combined expertise of Solent's yacht engineering team and Centre for Marine Sustainability.

  • 0years
    of yacht and powercraft design and production at Solent University
  • £0m
    investment in our campus and industry-standard facilities
  • 0th
    UK uni for sustained employment (LEO 2022)
  • You'll have full access to industry-standard naval architecture software and CAD packages.
  • The course combines the theoretical knowledge and practical design skills desired by employers.
  • You'll be able to test the performance of your design using the University's 60m-long tow tank.
  • Solent has a strong pedigree in yacht and powercraft design and production, delivering courses for 55 years.
  • You'll be studying in the heart of the city of Southampton - close to the UK's top sailing areas and many design offices and production facilities. Southampton is also home to the UK's largest boat show.
  • You'll hear from guest speakers from industry on current design developments, rule developments and current practice and help develop your design skills.
  • You'll join established and globally recognised yacht design and production alumni, many of whom are major contributors to the design and production of some of the world’s leading marine craft brands and design offices for both leisure and commercial vessels.

Course overview

The MSc Sustainable Marine Craft and Superyacht Design course focuses on equipping you with the engineering knowledge and the analytical and practical technical design skills a future marine craft designer is expected to have on entering the leisure or commercial craft design and production industry, to design marine craft typically between 24 metres and 120 metres in length.

Alongside practical design projects, you will study naval architecture, structural design and system design. For all modules, your design must comply with relevant maritime statutory regulations and must have current sustainability and lifecycle requirements embedded within.

Working in Solent's marine design CAD suite, you will learn to use many commercially available drafting and modelling, and analytical software programs widely used across the marine design industry. You will use industry-standard hull lines fairing software to develop the hull, and CAD packages to develop 2D CAD drawings and 3D computer generated models of your designs.

You will also have access to Solent University’s 60 metres long tow tank, where you will be able to test and analyse the performance of a sailing or motor vessel and then develop the sail or wing plan for a wind assisted vessel, or the powertrain for a powered vessel.

On completion of the course, which may well finish with your dissertation completed alongside a commercial design office or production facility, you will have the design skills to join an exciting worldwide industry. Alternatively, you could complete further research by pursuing a PhD. 

Any questions?

Contact UK admissions

Email: admissions@solent.ac.ukCall: 023 8201 5066

Contact international admissions

Email: admissions.international@solent.ac.ukCall: +44 (0)23 8201 5066

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Student work

Our creative degrees allow our students to develop a critical eye for design with a knowledge of different design approaches and problem solving techniques. Take a look at some of the great work they produce.

Course features

  • Apply direct

    You can apply direct to Solent University for this course

  • Specialist facilities

    This course has access to specialist facilities

This course is for

This course is ideally suited to students who have an undergraduate degree in large ship design, engineering, architecture or technical product design, or for those who have practical seagoing experience of working vessels but who now wish to pursue a career in the marine design industry designing complex sustainable vessels between 24m and 120m in length.  

What this course leads to

This course can lead to exciting worldwide careers as a superyacht or commercial craft designer, specialising in areas of naval architecture, marine craft design, or project management; or being an owner’s representative within both the superyacht and commercial craft industry. 

  • Naval architect
  • Designer
  • Production manager
  • Stylist
  • Systems engineer

Meet the team

The academic team have many years' experience in teaching the analytical theory and the practical design associated with the development and design of commercial marine draft and superyachts. Collectively, their expertise and authority to deliver the latest marine craft design knowledge and real-world design practice is reinforced by actively engaging with academic consultancy, government funded projects, post-doctoral research, and industry experience and consultancy.

The University cannot guarantee any particular members of staff will teach specific aspects of the course in the future, but will endeavour to ensure the teaching team maintains their balance of experience and qualifications.

Facilities

To aid learning, students have full access to the University’s specialist yacht engineering and design facilities, including our composite construction workshop, yacht drawing office and modern CAD office, which is equipped with the latest commercial marine design and production software.

Students also have access to a fully-equipped specialist composite laboratory and materials testing laboratory, a 60m towing tank and static four-metre stability tank.

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