A second-generation surface force style apparatus has been developed to probe the inter-surface and near-surface structures under compressive forces. Systems of current academic interest which also have a substantial industrial impact include adsorbed and confined macromolecules, mesophases and amphiphiles in a variety of solution, melt and gel environments; the apparatus is designed to work in situ using neutron, X-ray and optical reflectivity. Having commissioned our new apparatus in 2006, we plan to undertake structure measurements on an industrially and biotechnologically relevant polybase system; we propose to measure the near-surface structures of confined poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) (PDMAEMA) solutions to better describe its behaviour in the presence of salt, surfactants and in response to varying pH.