Medway

Chatham Waterfront. Image: Medway Renaissance

The vision

Chatham town centre and waterfront lie at the centre of the Medway Towns but the idea is to create a more unified 'city', held together by redeveloped riverside areas. The current population of a quarter of a million is set to rise to about 300,000 within the next 15 years.

Medway from the air. See copyright

Key to Chatham's revival are the waterfront, a new 'cultural quarter' centred on Medway REACH, a new 2000 seat auditorium - and the redevelopment of the Pentagon shopping centre. There's also a plan to build a cable car system across the River Medway.

Where is it?

The Chatham waterfront site lies between Sun Pier in the centre of Chatham and the Command House Pub, near the entrance to Fort Amhurst. Other developments will centre around the Pentagon Centre, the train station and the Brook.

Waterfront

There are currently three designs by Ken Yeang on the table for a new-look waterfront - all aim to connect the town centre with planned residential and leisure developments on the Medway. The proposals include a riverside park and a theatre / community centre suspended over the water.

Town centre, Brook and station areas

The train station area should see a variety of improvements: a new hotel, additional office space and general improvements to pedestrian routes, the station itself and surrounding buildings.

The 'Brook' regeneration encompasses Town Hall Gardens [new homes will be built on the edge of the gardens], The Brook itself and Union Street and Upper High Street [reducing the impact of the ring road on the area].

The Pentagon centre will undergo a massive face-lift, with additional retail, office and residential units turning it into the second largest shopping centre in the south east, after Bluewater.

When is it happening? 

Development period 2004-2024.

Who's involved

Medway Renaissance is the name for the regeneration team within Medway Council responsible for overseeing all 'Thames Gateway' projects.

The numbers

• Projected to deliver 1,500 new homes
• 158 acre site

• 3000 new jobs

• Refurbishment and expansion of the Pentagon shopping centre with 14,000 square metres of new stores and leisure facilities and 125 new apartments. £160m will be spent on the refurbishment and expansion.

Chatham Maritime

This 140-hectare site near Chatham Dockyard has already been transformed into a busy residential and business area.

Chatham Maritime. Copyright: SEEDA

This is SEEDA's largest project in the whole Thames Gateway area and over £500 million has already been pumped into the site.

• 3,000 homes; 7,000 residents
• 300-berth marina
• Primary school, community centre and doctors' surgery
• 120,000 square m of office space
• 3,500 jobs created
• Dockside Outlet Centre opened in 2003 with 80 shops
• 3 miles of cyclepaths and riverwalks
• Cinema, pub, restaurant and hotel
• The site already includes a new campus for the Univerities at Medway, made up of the University of Greenwich, the university of Kent, Canterbury Christ Church
• University and Mid-Kent College. Student numbers, currently at 7,000 are expected to rise to 15,000 by 2012.

Dickens World, a £60 million tourist attraction dedicated to the life and times of Charles Dickens, opened in April 2007. Next door, the Odeon cinema complex is already open.

Essential links

For much more detail on regeneration in Medway, including photos, maps and planning documents, click on the links below:

Or you can contact:

Medway Renaissance
Eastgate House
High Street
Rochester
Kent ME1 1EW
01634 337154
regeneration@medway.gov.uk

SEEDA
Cross Lanes
Guildford
GU1 1YA
England UK
Email: seeda@seeda.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1483 484200