[citation needed] The tunnel was purchased by the University of Southampton for a minimal fee in 1979 on the understanding that they would cover the cost of transport and recommissioning at its new site on the Highfield Campus.

[citation needed] Previously the 7x5 wind tunnel had been heavily utilised by many F1 teams and a larger facility was deemed desirable to increase model scales.

[citation needed] In the early 00s the tunnel was able to be utilised by University students and researchers as well as a variety of customers from various industries.

The initiative gave 17 facilities access to a total of £13.3 million with funding coming from both EPSRC and the UK Aerodynamic Centre.

[4] The funding allocated to the tunnel was used to design and build a traverse system, install a combined chiller/heat pump into the circuit and also funded both a high resolution and high speed Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) systems.