Chatham Maritime
Twenty five years after the closure of Chatham Dockyard, the 140 hectare site has been transformed into a thriving business, education, leisure and residential community, combining high quality urban planning and design with the most stringent environmental and sustainability standards. To date in excess of £850m of public and private funds has been invested in Chatham Maritime.
SEEDA has built one of the top three business locations in Kent at Chatham Maritime with 120,000sqm of office space providing over 3,500 jobs. Companies that have already moved into Chatham Maritime include Kent Police, Natwest Bank Plc, Halifax Plc, MHS Homes, Lloyd’s of London and Xchanging.
MHS Homes, Medway’s largest independent landlord, located its new headquarters building at the site and has relocated around 200 staff there. Kent Police Constabulary has also moved into its Medway headquarters building, which is now home to approximately 500 police men and women.
Dickens World, a £62million visitor entertainment complex dedicated to the life and times of Charles Dickens opened in 2007. A multi-screen Odeon cinema and six new restaurants have also been built next to Dickens World.
Three hundred jobs have been created at the Dockside Outlet Centre, which opened in May 2003. Situated in the former Boiler Shop, a Grade II listed building, it has been converted and extended to house over 80 shops, selling clothing, luggage and home furnishings from High Street names including Marks and Spencer.
A major new University Campus for the Universities at Medway, made up of the University of Greenwich, the University of Kent, Canterbury Christ Church University and Mid-Kent College. This £50m partnership is supported by Communities and Local Government (CLG), SEEDA, Medway Council and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and is playing a key role in providing the skills and learning opportunities needed to create thriving and sustainable communities in the Thames Gateway.
Over 10,000 sqm of listed buildings have been recently converted to provide a learning resource centre and lecture theatre and 6,000sqm of new teaching accommodation has been opened to the campus. Student numbers will soon reach 7,000 and this is expected to rise to 15,000 by 2012.
St. Mary’s Island
A new residential quarter has been created at the site of 100 acre St. Mary’s Island. So far nearly 1,000 homes have been built and up to another 2,000 are planned at Chatham Maritime. Chatham Maritime will eventually be home to around 7,000 residents. The building programme on St. Mary’s Island has being brought forward by Countryside Maritime Limited, a joint venture between SEEDA and developers Countryside Properties plc. The development has already won a host of awards and was a finalist in the Deputy Prime Minister’s Sustainable Communities Awards.
SEEDA’s objective is to demonstrate good quality design and sustainable construction while providing an attractive and peaceful living space. Islanders also have the benefit of a primary school for up to 400 children, a day nursery, GP doctors’ surgery, pharmacy, mature parkland, community centre and employment opportunities, either on the Island or within walking distance.
The island is reached from the historic Dockyards by a 3km riverside walk and cycle way which gives views of the opposite riverbank and sites such as the Elizabethan Upnor Castle. There are three recreational areas on the Island, designed to provide safe places for children to play football and other sports, and an all-weather sports pitch.
Masterplan
SEEDA took ownership of the site from English Partnerships in April 1999 and since then has created a truly mixed-use, sustainable community at the site. Chatham Maritime is split into four main areas, residential, business, education and leisure, and each of these sectors have grown considerably over the past decade.
Investment and Outputs to date
- Total of 1, 000 new homes for 2,500 residents
- £850million public and private investment at the site
- 300 berth marina
- £65million Factory Outlet Centre
- Primary school, community centre, pharmacy and doctors’ surgery
- 7,000 FTE students enrolled in the Universities at Medway
- 200 + student flats
- 10,000m2 of office space
- 3,500 jobs
- Three miles of cycle paths and river walks
- A major visitor attraction based on the Life & work of Charles Dickens
- 2,000 seat Cinema
- Pub and restaurant / hotel
- Six restaurants
- Ninety bedroom Ramada encore hotel
- Incubation business centre for the cultural sector.
