Summer 2019
Issue 3
GA R D E N C I TY
CELEBRATION Ebbsfleet’s first festival marks the health benefits of living in a garden city
E N T E RP RI S E
GRO W
ME E T
A new way of building homes that could transform the construction industry
The schools that will nurture the generations to come
First pub and hotel bring new choice to the area’s leisure facilities
Ebbsfleet Garden City’s largest site...
WHITECLIFFE
Last few remaining land opportunities available Register your interest today on 01322 374 757
Exciting development already underway within three distinct villages: Alkerden
Ashmere
Castle Hill
Providing land for a great choice of 1, 2 & 3 bedroom apartments and 2, 3, 4 and 5 bedroom houses in a totally unique environment in the heart of the new Ebbsfleet Garden City only 17 minutes away from London St. Pancras • A beautiful public square in the heart of the development • Mixed use development • Up to 50,000sq ft of community facilities
• New Education Hub • Three Primary Schools & one Secondary School • Community Centre • Sport pitches
whitecliffeinfo.com
EBBSFLEET GARDEN CITY
DA11 8JH
EBBS FLEET GARDEN CI TY SUMMER 2019
CONTENTS
06–08 News Ebbsfleet attracts its first anchor store, design plaudits and a company HQ, and hosts its first community festival
10–13 Placemaking
19-24
Health and wellbeing The initiatives helping residents take health into their own hands
The plans that are in place to ensure that EGC becomes a successful and distinctive new community
33–36
16–17 Leadership
Enterprise
The new and upcoming priorities for chief executive Ian Piper
26-27 On site Progress on the Thames Gateway’s largest redevelopment scheme
29–31 Education How schools and other facilities will cater for Ebbsfleet's growing population
How the North Kent Enterprise Zone’s first major business, Berkeley Modular, will boost jobs and career prospects
38–39 Facts and figures
42–45 Projects
Numbers that give a snapshot of Ebbsfleet Garden City
A rundown of the schemes taking shape across the area
40–41 Map
46 Growing communities
See where the main development sites are located
The pub that is pulling in the crowds as well as pints
Editor Debbie Ashford Production manager Christopher Hazeldine Design Kate Monument Business development director Paul Gussar Business development manager Harry Seal Project manager Sue Mapara Subscriptions manager Simon Maxwell Managing director Toby Fox Cover image: The Gathering, photo by The Imageworks Images Proctor & Matthews Architects, Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, Berkeley Group /Harris Associates, Lee Evans Partnership, Primark / ©jasonmoorephotography, Co-Op, Clarion Housing, Henley Camland, Robert Greshoff, Michael Doolittle / Alamy, Monkey Business Images / Shutterstock, Autodesk Printed by Bishops Printers Published by 3Fox International, London CR0 2AP T: 020 7978 6840 W: 3foxinternational.com Subscriptions & feedback ebbsfleetgardencity.co.uk Produced in partnership with the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation © 2017 3Fox International Limited. All material is strictly copyright and all rights are reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without the written permission of 3Fox International Ltd is strictly forbidden. The greatest care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of information in this magazine at time of going to press, but we accept no responsibility for omissions or errors. The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of 3Fox International Ltd.
EBB SF L EE T
G A RDEN
C I T Y
5
EBBS FLEET GARDEN CI TY N EWS
PLANS UNDERWAY FOR A NEW CENTRE OF LEARNING
A
£55 million education hub is to be built in the central Alkerden Village area of Whitecliffe, forming a key focal point in the community. Lee Evans Partnership, based in London and Canterbury, will design the scheme for developer Henley Camland, with opening planned for 2021. The 12-ha site will accommodate a new twoform primary school and an eight-form
6
secondary school, which will incorporate a sports centre for school and community use, and a community hub offering a range of facilities. Lee Evans Partnership has received recognition for its design of Cherry Orchard Primary Academy and Castle Hill Community Centre that opened in the Castle Hill area of Ebbsfleet last year. London partner, Mark Nolan, said: “With
our extensive previous experience across Ebbsfleet Garden City over the last five years, we have developed a real understanding of Henley Camland’s vision for the area. We look forward to working with the multiple stakeholders involved with the garden city project to help create an exemplar education and community facility around which the burgeoning community can grow."
S U MMER
2019
EBBS F LE ET GA R DE N CITY NEWS
THE CO-OP SETS OUT ITS STALL
The UK’s fifth biggest food retailer, Co-op, will be the first anchor store in Castle Hill village centre in Whitecliffe, formally known as Eastern Quarry. It will occupy one of five retail units that are currently being created by developer Newcrest, which agreed a joint venture with Land Securities to develop the retail provision in the area. It is building 929 sq m of ground floor retail, together with 46 shared ownership apartments and 10 townhouses, due to be completed by the end of the year. Craig Smith, regional acquisitions manager for Co-op, said: "We’re looking forward to opening a new store in Castle Hill. We’re delighted to have the opportunity to provide shoppers with our award-winning food." Family-owned brewery Shepherd Neame, based in Kent since 1698, has also acquired a site in Castle Hill, where it will build a pub hotel with 17 bedrooms, restaurant and function suite.
PRIMARK PULLS IN THE CROWDS
F
ashion brand Primark attracted crowds of shoppers when it opened its two-floor store covering 4,273 sq m at Bluewater Shopping Centre in March 2019. It features 64 fitting rooms, 47 cash desks and four ‘customer recharge’ seating areas. Primark says it has created more than 400 jobs in what is its 187th store in the UK. Simon Gibbs, who is Primark's retail director for the UK, said: "We're delighted to open a new store in
EBB SF L EE T
G A RDEN
C I T Y
the Bluewater Shopping Centre, bringing amazing fashion at amazing prices to the people of Kent and surrounding areas.” The shop launched last month in time for Bluewater’s 20th anniversary celebrations in March. The centre now offers more than 300 stores and 50 food and drink destinations, a trampoline park and an IMAX cinema. It is set in 240 acres surrounded by a 50 acre landscape of lakes, parkland and trees.
7
EBBS FLEET GARDEN CI TY N EWS
DESIGNS ATTRACT WORLD ATTENTION FIRST FESTIVAL SERVES UP A FEAST
T
he garden city’s first festival, which celebrated its status as a Healthy New Town, attracted over 500 local people, artists, community groups and volunteers in a well-received event at Manor Community Primary school in Swanscombe. It brought together the community groups and artists who had been working on various healthrelated projects involving arts, food and wellbeing in the previous six months. It featured keep-fit bhangra dancing, dhol drumming, and stalls with locally-sourced food served up by both professional and amateur chefs. There was also a display of aerial acrobatics, an open-mic event and drawing workshops for children. Laura Bailey, the cultural
VIEW FROM THE TOP Ebbsfleet Development Corporation has a new home in The Observatory at the heart of the major development taking place in Whitecliffe, allowing it to continue its work to help create the UK’s first garden city in more than 100 years.
8
development manager at Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, said: “It was so lovely to see so many people from different communities and cultures mixing together and enjoying being creative. We had many very positive comments and feedback. It was a great example of how creativity, arts and culture can support community cohesion, wellbeing and bring joy to people’s lives.” The Healthy New Towns programme is a project set up by NHS England with Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, and Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley Clinical Commissioning Group. It is the largest of 10 schemes in the country and aims to embed personal health and wellbeing into the planning and development of new neighbourhoods.
The architectural designs for three Ebbsfleet Garden City schemes have been nominated for prestigious awards. The winner of EDC’s landscape competition last year, which featured a series of islands linked by walkways, has been shortlisted in the World Landscape Architect Awards for 2019 in the Conceptual category, along with projects from California, China and New Zealand. The ambitious design, which attracted worldwide media interest when it was declared the winner in September 2018 and likened to Dubai’s Palm Island, included an arts and culture island where open air productions and gigs could take place, floating hotel pods and an innovation area for start-up businesses. Unity Gardens (above), built by Clarion Housing in Castle Hill, was commended in the best new development in the south category in the First Time Buyer Readers’ Awards. The development has also been nominated for two awards at the Evening Standard's New Homes Awards for best first time buyer home and best development in the affordable homes sector. Unity Gardens launched its 65 two and three-bedroom properties in September 2018. Another nomination was for architect Lee Evans Partnership, shortlisted in this year’s RICS annual awards for Cherry Orchard Primary Academy and adjacent community centre in Castle Hill. It is the first school to open in Ebbsfleet Garden City and, along with the community centre, has become an important part of the newly developing village (see page 29).
S U MMER
2019
NATIONAL INFLUENCE LOCAL KNOWLEDGE Barton Willmore is the UK’s leading planning and design consultancy with 13 offices nationwide. Established in 1936, we’ve been in Kent for over 30 years, and relocated to our home in Ebbsfleet in 2010 – just after the opening of HS1. From our office overlooking Ebbsfleet Garden City, we are now watching the fruits of the past 20+ years come to life. We have been working with landowners in Ebbsfleet since the 1990s and continue to work closely with Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, developers and stakeholders to help deliver new phases of development in the Garden City which we are proud to see growing in front of us. This has included new phases of residential and mixed use development, including a purpose built modular factory supporting innovative methods in increasing housing supply. Our highly experienced team offer a fully integrated planning and design approach bringing a strong understanding of the opportunities and barriers to development in Ebbsfleet, locally within the South East, and Nationally. We provide commercial and innovative solutions to help you gain approval for your development proposals, maximising and adding real value from your investments.
EBBSFLEET
To find out more about what we do and our experience, please visit www.bartonwillmore.co.uk
MASTERPLANNING & URBAN DESIGN
LANDSCAPE PLANNING & DESIGN
ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
ARCHITECTURE
Image Credit Keepmoat Homes
TOWN PLANNING
www.bartonwillmore.co.uk
T: 0132 237 4660
GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
N EW GARDEN C ITY I M P LEMENTATION F RAM EW OR KÂ
PAVING THE
WAY 10
S U MMER
2019
EBBS F LE ET GA R DE N CITY PLACEM A K ING
BETTER BY
DESIGN What does it take to build a new city, one that turns large industrial areas and existing communities into a desirable place to live? It’s all in the planning BY S A R A H HE RBE R T
B
ack in the early 20th century, when Ebenezer Howard had his pioneering idea for garden cities - “a town designed for healthy living and industry of a size that makes possible a full measure of social life but not larger, surrounded by a rural belt” – we lived in simpler times. His first garden city, Letchworth, was funded via wealthy donors who got a return on their investment from rental income; and his second, Welwyn, by borrowing money from friends: a princely £106,735 for the 2,817-acre site. As it was a greenfield site, he had free rein to draw up an idealistic masterplan, with delineated zones for housing, industry and commerce, and appointed one firm of architects to oversee the design of everything from the one central department store to houses, all to an idealised Arts and Crafts style. Ebbsfleet Development Corporation’s (EDC) delivery of a 21st century equivalent builds on the ethos and pioneering spirit of such planned communities, including up to 15,000 high quality new homes and a new commercial centre, all in a healthy environment. Founded on placeEBB SF L EE T
G A RDEN
C I T Y
The focus is on maximising potential, delivering quickly and advocating outstanding quality for both natural and built environments
making, community building and sustainability, the scheme is arranged around creating walkable neighbourhoods, with each area served by public transport, cycling routes and its own shops. However, unlike the original garden cities and new towns, the corporation doesn’t have a bank of willing financiers, and has the complications of multiple landowners with existing assets, the involvement of three councils - Gravesend, Dartford and Kent County Council - and building on previously developed industrial land, most of which has outline planning permissions already in place. To provide a cohesive strategy, and inform developers, local authorities and local people, the corporation created an implementation framework, which assimilates experience and ambition with the existing masterplans and planning permissions. The focus is on maximising development potential, delivering quickly and advocating outstanding quality for both natural and built environments. To ensure this quality of the built environment across all developments, EDC has also developed a design guide to help developers and their 11
EBBS FLEET GARDEN CI TY P LACEMAKING
architects create characterful and distinctive streets and homes, informed by the local landscape and vernacular built heritage. While much of Ebbsfleet already has outline planning permissions in place, including specification of density, the design guide will help at the detailed design stage. The guidance, developed with the local planning committee, presents four styles or ‘narratives’, outlining urban form, architectural language, materials and detailing to define a character for specific areas. As Mark Pullin, chief planning officer at Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, explains: “The local plan policies that cover design call for schemes to show local distinctiveness. Our design guide indicates our interpretation of what that could look like. It provides a structure and methodology for developers to follow. They can take their own approach, but the guide suggests how developers should articulate what they are doing. It explains to them how to frame their proposition and 12
“This process has been smooth and has led to a better understanding of each other’s views, and a united view on the vision for the garden city” I A IN Mc P HE R S ON , C O UN T RY S IDE
should assist with the planning process.” So far, such guidance has helped completion of over 1,500 homes around the three villages of Springhead Park, Ebbsfleet Green and Castle Hill, as well as Cherry Orchard school, the first primary school to open in the garden city, and a pub and hotel at Ebbsfleet Green. Transport links are being improved with the construction of Springhead Bridge linking Springhead Park with the international station due to finish by February 2020, enabling connection with the Fastrack public transport service. Employment opportunities are opening up: a modular housing factory for Berkeley Homes will be open by 2020, offering 240 skilled construction jobs. And there is a lot in the pipeline. Says Pullin: “We are in discussions at all of our developer sites, progressing reviews of outline planning permissions, as well as looking at specific reserved matters details covering how houses look and how layouts work.” One such key piece of work is the village, S U MMER
2019
EBBS F LE ET GA R DE N CITY PLACEM A K ING
Picture this —
EDC’s design guide aims to achieve a local distinctiveness to new developments and can help smooth the planning process for developers. designforebbsfleet.org
or area, masterplans for Eastern Quarry, which has been renamed Whitecliffe, and, at 1.5 miles wide, forms the largest part of the garden city. Framed by chalk cliffs on one side, and lakes on the other, the former quarry will ultimately be the site of 6,250 new homes. One third of the development area will be open space, including a large urban park. The largest, western village is being delivered via landowner and infrastructure enabler Henley Camland, architect PRP and joint venture partners Clarion Housing Group and Countryside. The development is a prime example of the collaborative nature of EDC’s planning procedure. Iain McPherson, chief executive of partnerships south at Countryside, explains: “While developing our area masterplan and design code for the western village we also worked with EDC to develop the narrative design document and public realm guidance. Both work streams have interacted and evolved together. EBB SF L EE T
G A RDEN
C I T Y
DESIGN ST YLES FOR THE GARDEN CIT Y THE COOMBE The Coombe, designed for Eastern Quarry, takes inspiration from local Kent villages FLEETS AND HITHES Fleets and Hithes, developed for Northfleet riverside, references the industrial wharves and docks DEFINED SETTLEMENTS For denser areas, pays tribute to the industrial architecture of the local cement industry THE MARSHES The Marshes relates to Swanscombe and explores water-based landscapes
“We made our submissions before Christmas and are now working through the various comments made by consultees and the EDC towards a committee date for a decision. “This has also been a collaborative process with both Kent County Council and EDC to ensure that the proposals meet with the guidance, as well as parameters set by the outline planning permission and the site-wide masterplan, and accord with the principles already set out in the area masterplan and design code.” The process sounds complex, but according to McPherson is remarkably smooth. “The collaboration has been a simple exchange of information and views, based upon our comments on EDC’s documents, then design team meetings with them to discuss how their principles affected the applications we were collating. This process has been smooth and has led to a better understanding of each other’s views, and a united view on the vision for the garden city.” 13
Getting around
Ebbsfleet Garden City
Explore the Industrial Heritage of our historic waterfront. The Northfleet riverside has a rich heritage of sea-faring adventure and industry. The existing riverside footpath provides intriguing glimpses back into Northfleet’s past, and will form the backbone of a new waterfront. 40 min walk | Low difficulty | Occasionally uneven terrain
Have you discovered the River Ebbsfleet? Find yourself meandering through this unique and undiscovered landscape. You can still access this river walk despite the construction of Springhead Bridge. 40 min walk | Low difficulty | Occasionally uneven terrain
ebbsfleetdc.org.uk © Copyright Ebbsfleet Garden City (2019) Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right (2019)
EBBS FLEET GARDEN CI TY L EADERS HIP
WELL CONNECTED As the number of new houses grows across the area, Ebbsfleet Development Corporation’s chief executive, Ian Piper, tells us how he is pulling the complex scheme together BY DE BBIE A S HF ORD
T Changing views —
The focus of the Board and chief executive Ian Piper, pictured above, is widening to establish a thriving commercial centre around Ebbsfleet International and ensure that residents benefit from the area’s assets in the long term
16
wenty months into his post as chief executive of Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, Ian Piper is focusing attention beyond purely bricks and mortar as Ebbsfleet Garden City expands. Over the next 15 years, the mammoth regeneration project will create a new commercial centre around Ebbsfleet International station, build up to 15,000 homes and improve public transport and infrastructure, at the same time as promoting healthy lifestyles. Infrastructure and housing projects are well underway. There are over 1,530 completed homes, and the newly built primary school in Castle Hill, along with a pub and hotel in Ebbsfleet Green, are proving highly popular. Piper explains: “The Board and the team are setting up a garden city on a brownfield site and want to make it first and foremost a great place to live. In the first couple of years, the focus was on getting houses built. Now
we are progressing facilities for health, leisure and public spaces to create a community, not just a big housing estate. We’ve seen large scale developments in the past that lack social infrastructure. For us, quality of homes is as important as quantity. “Of course, we can’t do it all ourselves so we are working with a huge range of partners, from local established groups to public authorities. A lot of people have great passion about the area and our role is to bring coherence, a sense of common purpose, to all the activity. We’ve been meeting regularly with many groups, like football clubs, churches or housing associations.” Another current preoccupation is establishing a city centre based around Ebbsfleet International station. It will be a higher density, mixed-use commercial centre for employment, local shopping and leisure facilities, with around 2,500 homes, some of which will be for rent.“The city centre will S U MMER
2019
EBBS F LE ET GA R DE N CITY LEA DE RSHIP
form the heart of the garden city and has great potential,” says Piper. “The station is very important to Ebbsfleet, bringing the connectivity to London that is one of its major attributes. At the moment the area is a sea of car parking. The trick will be making it all happen as it’s technically and legally complicated. We are working with the landowners to unlock the barriers and hope to make real progress within the next year. “Another important issue is addressing the long term stewardship of public areas, like parks, open spaces and community centres, for the benefit of everybody, given that many local authorities can’t afford to look after them. We have presented a proposal to the board about establishing a trust that gives control of future management to the community. It is one of the key things that would distinguish us as a garden city, like Letchworth has. We don’t want a model that is based purely on service charges levied on households in the area. It’s quite EBB SF L EE T
G A RDEN
C I T Y
“Now we are progressing facilities for health, leisure and public spaces to create a community, not just a big housing estate” I A N P IP E R, C HIE F E X E C U T I VE
challenging but it is something we are very keen to leave as a legacy.” The importance of connections is a recurring theme. Despite the prospect of Britain leaving the EU, which arguably could have a significant effect on the area, Piper believes its connectivity will give Ebbsfleet the edge: “Like other parts of the country, there are some concerns that Brexit will impact the housing market and that we could face a shortage of skilled construction workers. But I feel we would recover more quickly due to our connectivity, and we will be able to offer businesses a cheaper location than central London. We will be working hard to maximise opportunities for investment. “Living in our garden city means it has everything London has to offer within 20 minutes, but we’ve also got fantastic countryside and coast nearby. Ultimately it’s about a lifestyle. We want to leave a place that people are happy to call their home.” 17
Community Creators Coming Soon - Castle Hill’s new local centre including a market leading convenience store operator, four additional retail units, a boutique public house, 10 stylish townhouses and 46 bespoke apartments. REGISTER YOUR INTEREST NOW
www.new-crest.com ebbsfleet@new-crest.com
Newcrest is the leading neighbourhood & district centre developer
EBBS F LE ET GA R DE N CITY H EA LT H A ND WE LLBE ING
FIT FOR PURPOSE
As a Healthy New Town, Ebbsfleet Garden City is demonstrating how health and wellbeing can be built into new neighbourhoods from the word go BY S URU C HI S H A R M A
EBB SF L EE T
G A RDEN
C I T Y
19
EBBS FLEET GARDEN CI TY H EA LTH AND WELLB EI N G
P
eter Scollard fondly recalls two activities when he was younger: fruit-picking trips with family members and cultivating fresh produce. He says: “One of the first things I remember doing as a child was growing tomatoes and being absolutely fascinated with the process. Early in the mornings, we used to go and gather mushrooms, hazelnuts and apples, and then we’d make apple tarts and mushroom omelettes. It was a cheap way of getting food.” Those early days in the outdoors evidently spurred him on to create social enterprise No Walls Gardens, where volunteers work on community garden projects. Scollard heads up one of many vital groups that are crucial pieces of the jigsaw in helping Ebbsfleet Garden City become a Healthy New Town, one of 10 housing developments across the country that are part of an NHS England-led three-year programme to promote wellbeing right from inception. Ebbsfleet Garden City is the largest of the pilot schemes, intending to create up to 15,000 new homes and 30,000 new jobs in the region by 2035. 20
Working it out —
getting residents active is a key element of NHS England's Healthy New Towns initiative in Ebbsfleet Garden City. Giving people the means to achieve this included offering residents a Fitbit monitor so they could keep a check on their activity (right)
S U MMER
2019
EBBS F LE ET GA R DE N CITY H EA LT H A ND WE LLBE ING
“The Clinical Commissioning Group supports people to be more in control of their health and wellbeing” DE BBIE S T O C K , DIRE C T OR OF T R A NS F OR M AT I ON A L C H A N GE
Billed as Britain’s first garden city in 100 years, the pressure is on to deliver a place that is both inviting and takes a positive step towards improving lives. Kevin McGeough, project director of the city’s Healthy New Towns programme, says the design of a place and its services can affect how healthy its population becomes. He explains: “Instead of just thinking how many hospital beds and GP surgeries we need, we are thinking in a totally different and collaborative way: more about wellbeing, helping residents to get fit and active, and raising awareness about how their social connections could make them feel better. It’s about putting people in control and we want to give as much information and support as we can so they can help themselves.”
Reaping the rewards NHS staff have worked closely with Ebbsfleet Development Corporation to develop the plans. Debbie Stock, director of transformational change at the NHS Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley clinical commissioning group (CCG), believes EBB SF L EE T
G A RDEN
C I T Y
Growing together —
the importance of collaboration between different organisations is equalled by how local people support each other to stay fit and share activities together.
the work in Ebbsfleet could be replicated across the country: “I really hope the Healthy New Towns legacy from Ebbsfleet can become a template for other areas. It takes a lot of work to embed new ways of working, particularly with design and technology, and to make the communities the most important aspect of a housing area. The CCG is also very keen to ensure that the principles of healthy living and working continue as Ebbsfleet's development continues, and it supports people to be more in control of their health and wellbeing.” The aim is to improve quality of life for residents through initiatives such as creating seven new city parks across the area, educating people about healthy food, and installing a network of cycling and walking paths to encourage physical activity, such as the widened pedestrian bridge at Church Path Pit in Northfleet. In a pioneering move to tap into digital technology, around 100 residents and workers in the area received a Fitbit early last year so they could record their activity and monitor fitness levels, including a group of veteran players 21
EBBS FLEET GARDEN CI TY H EA LTH AND WELLB EI N G
GRAND DESI GNS Last year, Ebbsfleet Garden City made international headlines with the winning entry to a landscape competition that was likened to the man-made Palm Islands in Dubai. The competition, managed by the Landscape Institute, invited innovative ways to shape the landscape and promote healthy living, particularly the Blue Lakes site, one of the city’s seven parks. The winning design proposed islands linked by walkways, with an arts and culture space for open air productions and live music, an innovation area for start-ups and a beach. It was created by the HALO (Hives, Arks, Links, Organics) team, which included landscape architect Bradley Murphy Design, development consultant Peter Brett Associates, and architecture firm JTP and artist Sebastien Boyesen.
“It’s a chance to get some fresh air, bring them back into the community, and make them feel happy and proud about themselves again” P E T E R S C OL L A RD, N O WA L L S G A RDE NS
from Ebbsfleet United’s walking football team. The scheme also helped project workers find out which walking and cycle routes were the most popular. Around 800 people are also using a BetterPoints app, which allows them to check and gather points during physical activity, such as walking, cycling and running. The points can then be converted into rewards such as shop vouchers or donated to charity. McGeough says: “What we have found with BetterPoints and the Fitbit project is that although it’s about getting residents to be healthier, it has been most successful in getting people to meet each other and avoid social isolation. It’s about trying to give local people tools to help them get to know each other and become more active and healthier. “It will be as much about arts and culture, sports and leisure, and creativity and complementary medicine, as it is about a GP and drugs.”
Ready to revitalise As an organisation committed to encouraging healthy living and community spirit, No Walls Gardens was an 22
S U MMER
2019
EBBS F LE ET GA R DE N CITY H EA LT H A ND WE LLBE ING
© Bradley Murphy Design 2018
early ally from the start. The group began life in Northfleet in 2013 and works with the long-term unemployed, recovering addicts and ex-offenders. A successful project in 2017 transformed the grounds of St Botolph’s Church into what became known as The Enchanted Garden and is often used for community events. Scollard, who is a director along with Gary May and Kelly Hall, who herself was once a volunteer, says that volunteers can learn new skills and appreciate being part of a team: “Many volunteers are single people and their social lives are often the internet and social media, and they need real interaction. "When they first come they’re shy, but having something to do brings them out of their shells. It’s a chance to get some fresh air, bring them back into the community, and make them feel happy and proud about themselves again. At the moment we’re looking to create edible playgrounds, so we’ll put in planters, a fruit tree and some strawberries. "The children learn about how things grow, and they make something from the produce at a cooking class.” EBB SF L EE T
G A RDEN
C I T Y
Love island —
Top architects, development consultants and artists make up HALO (Hives, Arks, Links, Organics), which designed the islands scheme, offering imaginative ideas for creating a green and healthy environment (above).
The group also worked on the first Edible Ebbsfleet project, which grows food in public spaces such as parks, streets and gardens, along London Road in Northfleet. As well as making an area look more attractive, the initiative also promotes the benefits of eating fresh fruit and vegetables. It was used as an example of good practice by the Town and Country Planning Association in its guide on delivering successful new communities. A similar project started in spring last year at St Mary’s Church in Greenhithe, created with the help of Swanscombe and Greenhithe Allotment and Gardens Association, and children from Knockhall Primary school and Cherry Orchard Primary Academy. Sue Butterfill, project co-ordinator and Greenhithe ward councillor, says this initiative is “vital for people to learn how to grow and cook fresh fruit and vegetables. "Many people don’t have a garden," she adds, "so it’s a great place for them to help grow produce. You’d be surprised you can really make cakes with vegetables such as courgettes, carrots and beetroot. 23
EBBS FLEET GARDEN CI TY H EA LTH AND WELLB EI N G
“It is a true community project as it is open to everybody. Social interaction and the benefits for mental health are there. It’s about bringing people into a place where there are signposts to other services. It also helps improve selfesteem as it gives them a sense of purpose.” She says that if the Healthy New Towns programme “keeps to the high standard it has set”, it will be a great example for the rest of the country. She adds: “All the little bits of the jigsaw have come together, but we need to keep the momentum going; and we are, as we’re all working towards the same goal.”
Green gathering The garden city also held its very first festival to celebrate the first phase of the Healthy New Towns programme. The Gathering was a family-friendly event attracting more than 500 people and brought together arts, creativity and food, all linked to the theme of wellbeing. Commissioned artist Esther Collins worked on a project called Chalk and Cheese that combined creative activities with advice on healthy living. Collins, who has a second career as a cheesemonger, says: “I took it as a real opportunity to bring together two interests of mine: food 24
Community spirit — The Gathering event, part of the Healthy New Towns initiative, was the city's first festival and brought people together through creativity, food events and art.
and art.” In the run up to the festival, she ran bespoke pop-up activities with existing groups and local Scout organisations, such as printing tea towels and aprons using blocks made out of vegetables and natural inks and dyes. She says: “The project tried to find out what interests and skills people already have. Some had interesting and specific skills, such as furniture restoration, shorthand or making pea pod wine. I’ve been able to bring people together and introduce them to new artists and processes. It’s really a starting point: in the longer term I’d like to figure out if there’s a way to get them to share their skills.” Although the first phase of the Healthy New Towns programme officially came to an end this year, the lessons learned and achievements made are being embedded into Ebbsfleet Development Corporation’s work. Collins says: “We’re realising that there are lots of ways to help ourselves not get ill, and also that there’s a direct benefit to our physical and mental wellbeing by getting involved in creative activities. As a nation, it’s unavoidable [that we need to start] looking at and talking about this, and I think Ebbsfleet could be a pioneer and a good example for other parts of the country.” S U MMER
2019
A WHOLE NEW TAKE ON CITY LIVING FIRST COMPLETIONS SPRING / SUMMER 2020
About Cable Wharf: • Beautifully designed 1 and 2 bedroom apartments and 2, 3 and 4 bedroom homes, set within a unique location of the former Rosherville Gardens, a previous historical Victorian tourist hotspot • The regeneration of this development includes bespoke landscaped garden areas, a water front promenade, play areas and roof gardens, alongside a primary school and retail outlets • The development will include distinct areas, including the waterfront, a promenade and Italian Garden district, all linked with a heritage trail and public art strategy.
Don’t miss out. Register your interest today. 01582 448300 Artists impressions are representative only.
EBBS FLEET GARDEN CI TY O N S ITE
GROUND FORCE As crucial preparatory works continue, homes are growing on Ebbsfleet Garden City’s largest development, newly named Whitecliffe, inspired by the cliff faces of the former quarry BY DE BBIE A S HF ORD
26
S U MMER
2019
EBBS F LE ET GA R DE N CITY ON SITE
WHITECLIFFE’S THREE VILL AGES CASTLE HILL 1,600 homes, a primary school, pub, neighbourhood shops and amenities; almost 500 homes already completed and occupied. ALKERDEN centrally located, it is the community and commercial heart of the area, with about 1,500 new homes, a primary and secondary school, an adult and specialist learning centre and sports hall within a mixed-use hub, shops, cafes and community facilities like a doctor’s surgery. ASHMERE next to Bluewater shopping centre, and the largest of the villages: almost 3,000 homes, a primary and a secondary school, and local retail.
EBB SF L EE T
G A RDEN
C I T Y
I
n March 2018, Henley Camland acquired the largest landmark development within Ebbsfleet Garden City, the 269-hectare Whitecliffe scheme, formerly known as Eastern Quarry. Since then, the residential infrastructure and placemaking group has made strong headway with delivering this major development. Henley Camland has been working closely with Homes England which, as a champion of the government’s aim to accelerate the delivery of much-needed new housing in the UK, has provided a loan facility of almost £74 million towards a range of infrastructure works at this key scheme. Whitecliffe has outline planning permission for 6,250 homes, from one and two-bedroom apartments to houses of up to five bedrooms, encompassing affordable, family and private rented homes. The development comprises three distinct but complementary villages: Castle Hill, Alkerden and Ashmere. Each is surrounded by extensive landscaping and public areas, interspersed with two large lakes and all set against a backdrop of distinctive cliff faces formed by the quarrying activities. Through the centre of the villages runs the Fastrack corridor, a green transport route, containing dedicated bus, cycling and walking routes designed to link Bluewater with Ebbsfleet International station. The development therefore boasts unrivalled transport links, with a fast train link to central London in just 17 minutes, and Eurostar offering direct routes to Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels. Peter Nelson, the project director for Henley
Camland, explains: “We are currently working on several fronts to maximise the potential for the delivery of housing and to create a vibrant new community. In Ashmere and Alkerden we have started a major earthworks operation that will continue for the next three years, so we can increase the possibilities for building new homes. “In 2018 we prepared the land for almost 500 homes in Ashmere and will commence putting in the roads to get the housebuilders in within months, and into Alkerden in early 2020. Meanwhile, at Castle Hill we continue to finish roads and landscaping to serve the new housing, which will see over 300 units completed in 2019, alongside the pub and shops that will really establish the community that is already starting to form. “In addition, we are preparing to submit planning applications for the central secondary and primary schools and sports facilities necessary to support the growing population. “Homes England have been very helpful and supportive of what we do and our placemaking vision, and we constantly discuss how we might fast-track the delivery of new homes. “Now we have a clear vision of the infrastructure provision, we are starting to talk to new developers as well as our existing partners Countryside, Clarion, Barratt, Taylor Wimpey and Newcrest. We are confident that the new developers will swiftly sign up to the final unsold parcels of land and enable us to unlock the next phase of our vision to transform what was a quarry into the thriving and desirable new settlement of Whitecliffe.” 27
Pric e
s fr om
@mhshomes /mhshomesgroup
ÂŁ63
A collection of nine, 2 bedroom apartments available through shared ownership
Visit theclaygatecollection.co.uk to find out more or mhs.org.uk *Based on a 25% share. Full market value ÂŁ250,000.
,75
0*
EBBS F LE ET GA R DE N CITY E DUCATION
ROL L CA L L
With the area’s first school already in high demand, an ambitious timetable to build more across the area is in full swing BY S H A IL JA M ORRI S
I
t’s lunchtime at Cherry Orchard school in Castle Hill and dozens of primary-aged schoolchildren are filing out from spacious classrooms along a central corridor into the main hall. Hi-tech tables folded into the walls have been swiftly pulled down to transform this multi-purpose hall, which is also used for PE and assembly, into a busy refectory. After lunch
EBB SF L EE T
G A RDEN
C I T Y
the children will go outside into the well-stocked playground, sports field or adjoining woodland before returning for afternoon lessons. As the first school to be built on the Ebbsfleet Garden City development, Cherry Orchard Primary Academy is an impressive prototype. It signals a bright new future for education provision in the area, which is badly needed given the high
29
EBBS FLEET GARDEN CI TY E DUCATION
number of housing developments springing up in the area. Dartford borough has the highest amount of new housing of any Kent district and has a significantly higher birth rate than the county’s average, being consistently 7-10 points higher every year since 2012. According to projections to 2023 there will be a deficit of 1,200 primary school places if no action is taken to develop new schools. However, action is being taken and a total of seven primary schools are due to be built within the garden city over the coming years to meet this growing need. Cherry Orchard Primary, which is run by Leigh Academies Trust, will eventually provide places for 420 students, 26 nursery children and 15 pupils with special needs. School principal Julie Forsythe explains: “The school was originally planned as a one-form entry but we now have two-class entry in year two and above because the demand is so high. “When we opened in 2017 the number of houses being built was at a much slower pace. The development is now expanding quite rapidly and we’re noticing a change in the people coming to us. At first there were a lot of children from outside Ebbsfleet, from London and even from overseas, but now the intake is predominantly local children from the new development. The school plays a vital role within the growing community, which has been welcoming and supportive.” The school sits alongside Castle Hill community centre, which were built to complement each other. Their innovative design, by architects Lee Evans Partnership, was nominated for a 2018 Kent Design and Development award and more recently shortlisted in the community category for the annual RICS Awards (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors). The school has a logical internal layout that is easy for the children to navigate. The exterior with the its pale-coloured cement panelling references the local chalk landscape and reflects the site’s historic use as a quarry. Forsythe adds: “We are fortunate to have this excellent facility. The design is simple and effective. All the classrooms lead off a central corridor on both floors. In the infants classes downstairs all the classrooms have their own cloakroom and toilets. There is a library on each floor and breakout rooms for small group work. Outside, our woodlands area could eventually accommodate a forest school on site.” Cherry Orchard Primary will provide sufficient places until 2021-22 at which point additional capacity will be required. In March this year, Kent County Council approved plans for Ebbsfleet Green Primary school, which will hold a further 420 pupils at neighbouring Ebbsfleet Green when 30
Class act —
As the garden city’s first school, Cherry Orchard Primary, proves a success with residents and with design experts, developer Henley Camland is working on concepts for a £55 million education hub in Whitecliffe, far right above, that will encompass two schools, a sports centre and a building with a range of community facilities.
S U MMER
2019
EBBS F LE ET GA R DE N CITY E DUCATION
“It will form a key focal point for the local community on what is the largest development site in the Thames Gateway” it opens in September next year. By September 2022, a further school will be required at Alkerden in Whitecliffe, formerly known as Eastern Quarry, followed by two more at Ashmere and Northfleet East. Now plans for a £55 million education hub in Alkerden are taking shape, led by Lee Evans Partnership for developer Henley Camland. It will form a key focal point for the local community on what is the largest development site in the Thames Gateway, involving plans for over 6,000 new homes. The hub will accommodate two buildings on the 12-ha site: a primary school for 446 pupils and a secondary school with space for 1,680 students aged 11-18 years. The secondary school, to be run by Aletheia Anglican Academies Trust, will incorporate a 1,900sq m sports centre providing facilities for both the school and the local community. EBB SF L EE T
G A RDEN
C I T Y
A community hub nearby will provide a wide range of essential community facilities, including a lifelong learning centre, private nursery accommodating up to 90 children, a job centre and a base for local police and youth services. “It’s a landmark development, with its community facilities and health and education facilities right from early years into sixth form and beyond,” explains Ian Watts, area education officer at the county council. “We’re working through designs with the school and the landowners. There are also several partnerships with local colleges, including Canterbury Christchurch. “Keeping pace with all the developments is a challenge. We have to ensure the infrastructure is in place to support pupils. We always start off with a design that would provide for children that might need extra support within mainstream education whether for autism, mental health or behavioural issues. In north Kent we also need schools with true specialist provision for children with more profound learning needs and disabilities and are working with Ebbsfleet Development Corporation to develop this. The great thing about working with the Corporation is that they want the right infrastructure to make sure that all needs are covered within these new communities.” 31
WITH A REGIONAL STRONG REGIONAL FOOTHOLD WITHWITH A STRONG A STRONG REGIONAL FOOTHOLD FOOTHOLD WITH A STRONG REGIONAL FOOTHOLD AND NATIONAL CAPABILITIES, WE’RE READY AND AND NATIONAL NATIONAL CAPABILITIES, CAPABILITIES, WE’RE WE’RE READY READY AND NATIONAL CAPABILITIES, WE’RE READY WHENEVER AND WHEREVER YOU ARE. WHENEVER WHENEVER AND AND WHEREVER WHEREVER YOU YOU ARE. ARE. WHENEVER AND WHEREVER YOU ARE. Benefiting from Glenny’s in-depth and unrivalled Benefiting Benefiting from Glenny’s from Glenny’s in-depth in-depth and unrivalled and unrivalled Benefiting from Glenny’s in-depth and unrivalled regional knowledge of the East London and Essex regional regional knowledge knowledge of the of East theLondon East London and Essex and Essex regional knowledge of the East London and Essex property markets, our clients can expect an exceptional property property markets, markets, our clients our clients can expect can expect an exceptional an exceptional property markets, our clients can expect an exceptional service wherever their requirements are. Our full range serviceservice wherever wherever their requirements their requirements are. Our are.fullOur range full range service wherever their requirements are. Our full range of services are accessible through our central support of services of services are accessible are accessible through through our central our central support support of services are accessible through our central support hub and strategically-located regional offices. hub and hubstrategically-located and strategically-located regional regional offices.offices. hub and strategically-located regional offices.
DISCOVER MORE US AT WWW.GLENNY.CO.UK DISCOVER DISCOVER MOREMORE ABOUT ABOUT USABOUT ATUS WWW.GLENNY.CO.UK AT WWW.GLENNY.CO.UK OUR TEAM:WORKING ESSEX EAST LONDON |US NORTH LONDON & HERTFORDSHIRE | SOUTH LONDON & KENT ABOUT AT&WWW.GLENNY.CO.UK OUR OUR TEAM:WORKING TEAM:WORKING ESSEXDISCOVER ESSEX | EAST | LONDON EAST|MORE LONDON | NORTH | NORTH LONDON LONDON HERTFORDSHIRE & HERTFORDSHIRE | SOUTH | SOUTH EAST LONDON EAST EAST LONDON & KENT & KENT ESSEX | EAST LONDON | NORTH LONDON & HERTFORDSHIRE | SOUTH EAST LONDON & KENT
WELL PLACED WELL WELL PLACED PLACED ADVISORS WELLPROPERTY PLACED PROPERTY PROPERTY ADVISORS ADVISORS PROPERTY ADVISORS
OUR TEAM:WORKING
EBBS F LE ET GA R DE N CITY E NTE RPRISE
HOME &
AWAY Berkeley Group’s emerging modular homes factory in the North Kent Enterprise Zone will build ready made houses, as well as careers through recently created apprenticeships BY JA NE T H YNNE
EBB SF L EE T
G A RDEN
C I T Y
33
EBBS FLEET GARDEN CI TY E NTERPRIS E
A
ccording to a 2017 study by homeless charity Shelter, the UK will need to build around 230,000 new homes each year to combat the spiralling housing crisis. The government has set the target at 300,000 by the mid-2020s but the construction industry is currently building around 165,000 dwellings a year. While many in the industry blame a lack of available land, complex planning requirements and restrictions, some claim years of stagnation in the sector’s construction processes as a major impediment to growth. Now, modular housing is a new way of producing homes that many believe will not only solve the current crisis but will transform the industry, bringing new skill sets and technologies. Modular housing produces high-quality homes that are in the most part (up to 80%) constructed in a factory using state-of-the-art production techniques, before being assembled on site, offering time savings of up to 50%. The practice is growing in popularity around Europe and the UK is now taking the plunge. Berkeley Group is one 34
Assembly line —
Up to 80% of a home can be built in a factory using the latest technology before it is fitted together on site, taking half the time that traditional construction would normally take.
of the first to dip its toe into the water, launching its new enterprise, Berkeley Modular, in the North Kent Enterprise Zone, citing quality, performance and speed of construction as the main drivers behind its move into modular.
New site Situated on a 10-acre site in Northfleet East, a 150,000sq ft factory located alongside 15,500sq ft of office space are currently under construction. Once completed, Berkeley Group says the facility will deliver 1,000 homes a year by way of its robotic assembly line, manufacturing ‘finished modules complete with plumbing, electrics and internal finishings including flooring’. Production on the new homes is expected to get under way in 2020 and the company has already begun its recruitment process to fill the 240 new positions created by the scheme. “We are proud to be investing in Ebbsfleet Garden City,” says Karl Whiteman, managing director of Berkeley Modular. “Our modular housing facility will be a valuable S U MMER
2019
EBBS F LE ET GA R DE N CITY E NTE RPRISE
Online building —
An apprenticeship scheme at North Kent College will train students in industry-based digital manufacturing.
WHY CHOOSE AN ENTERPRISE ZONE?
New movement —
High level technology has the potential to transform the construction industry and open up a range of different career opportunities
THE THREE SITES IN NORTHFLEET EAST AND WEST, AND NORTHFLEET RISE OFFER: Business rate discounts, tax relief and simplified planning application process Room to grow a business, with a total of 83,000sq m of space
source of local jobs and growth for many years to come. “Right from the start, we have had fantastic support from Gravesend Council, Ebbsfleet Development Corporation and Homes England. They made basing our factory here the natural choice and our site is perfectly located close to our core markets in London and the South East.” Factors such as these, along with a skilled labour market, make the North Kent Enterprise Zone a desirable destination for both SMEs and conglomerates. New arrivals to the zone receive business rates discounts worth up to £55,000 a year for five years, provided they occupy their premises by 31 March 2022, an obvious incentive for any businesses that are looking to develop. “The aim is to support economic growth and prosperity, particularly by encouraging businesses with ambitions to grow, and create new, higher value jobs,” explains Dr Richard Longman, head of policy at Thames Gateway Kent Partnership, a private and public sector group promoting economic opportunities in north Kent. “The locational benefits of proximity to London, with EBB SF L EE T
G A RDEN
C I T Y
excellent road and rail connections, as well as a high-speed connection to Europe, give Ebbsfleet a unique selling point to potential investors.”
Apprenticeship scheme Another boost for the area is the development of a new apprenticeship scheme in a joint partnership between Berkeley Modular and North Kent College. The fully-funded, three-year programme will offer 10 young people a year the chance to train in digital design and production principles, and will lead to a Level 3 qualification in digital manufacturing and engineering. Primarily the course aims to provide Berkeley Modular with bespoke, highly-skilled, locally-based staff, but it is also a boon for the Dartford-based college. “It gives us a very rare opportunity to work at the inception of a new company doing something really quite different in the construction sector using very high level technology,” says project lead Mark Andrews, vicepresident at Gravesend, North Kent College. “This is a
Some of the most competitive rental rates in the south east Business-ready accommodation and infrastructure Location at the heart of the Kent innovation corridor 17-minute train journey to London, faster than any other area in Kent
35
EBBS FLEET GARDEN CI TY E NTERPRIS E
“This is a chance to join a cutting edge digital manufacturing business. It is very different to traditional onsite homebuilding” K A RL WHI T E M A N , BE RKE L E Y M OD UL A R
really great opportunity for young people who have got an engineering bent to get into construction, which is not only a primary industry here but across the country.” As well as budding engineers, the scheme is hoping to appeal to a range of students including would-be designers and 3D modellers.
Future managers “We are actually looking for problem solvers as well as those already interested in a career in construction or manufacturing,” says Andrews. “We are hoping to create the logistics and production managers of the future.” He believes that modular is the way forward and that it is “about time the construction industry brought itself into line with automotive and mobile technology manufacturing, where they can do things at very high quality, employing people to do high-tech, interesting 36
In control —
Berkeley Modular, working with Autodesk software designers, is looking to create future problem-solvers and leaders utilising its high-tech manufacturing.
jobs rather than low-skilled work. It makes construction a fantastic career opportunity. “The people who get on board now are going to be the future leaders of this industry, which is going to get bigger. Berkeley Modular is looking for people who are going to be with them in 10-20 years’ time – the production managers, the logistics directors, the design and engineering leaders of the future.” Whiteman adds: “This is a chance to join a cuttingedge digital manufacturing business. It is very different to traditional on-site homebuilding and there are a broad range of exciting roles to choose from.” North Kent College is rightly proud of its new partnership with businesses for what it can offer to students. “We are going to be working with a number of partners to help deliver the training, and those partnerships will then open up a wide range of opportunities in the construction sector,” explains Andrews. A key factor is that apprentices will receive specialist knowledge from industry professionals. The innovative nature of the project has meant that Andrews and his team have secured funding from the Education and Training Foundation as part of its commitment to bring education closer to industry. “There is real regeneration going on in the area,” Andrews asserts. “It’s always been an industrial area and it’s great to see a new industry that will mean a lot of jobs for local people. It will leave a legacy of high-quality training for years to come.” S U MMER
2019
Building healthy communities
A healthy new church for a healthy new town
Ebbsfleet Baptist Church is working with others to create a new church for the garden city, through our weekly “SUNDAY ACTIVE” events. Sunday Active offers a place where people can meet others, have fun and hopefully leave feeling just a little bit healthier! At 9 AM, we offer a gentle walk, a running group for mixed abilities, HIIT (high-intensity interval training) workouts or simply a place to chill and have coffee. Light breakfast at 10 AM, followed by a short interactive presentation on an aspect of spiritual health from a Christian perspective. Accompanied children are welcome to join in but must be over 12 for the running group and over 14 for HIIT. All activities are led by qualified coaches and are free!
ebbsfleetbaptistchurch.org.uk
Sunday Active - Ebbsfleet
For more information or sponsorship: Rev. Penny Marsh – ebbsfleet@seba-baptist.org.uk Ebbsfleet Baptist church is an initiative of the South Eastern Baptist Association (charity no: 1093252) Sunday Active has been sponsored by the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation
EBBS FLEET GARDEN CI TY FACTS & FIGURES
FACTS AND FIGURES
Since work began on Ebbsfleet Garden City, the achievements are already stacking up – and there’s so much more in the pipeline
Three linked sites in North Kent Enterprise Zone provide
sq m of commercial space and business hubs
MAJOR PARKS ARE PLANNED ACROSS THE CITY 38
90
%
of garden city residents will live within 5 minutes of a Fastrack bus stop S U MMER
2019
EBBS F LE ET GA R DE N CITY FACTS & F IGUR ES
30,000
Springhead Bridge will be 87m long, linking Springhead Park and Ebbsfleet International station for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers
jobs could be created in
45,000
sq m
of commercial space in the city centre based around the international station EBB SF L EE T
G A RDEN
C I T Y
1,530
THE FIRST PUB AND HOTEL, SPRING RIVER, OPENED IN AUTUMN 2017 AND HAS BEEN A BIG DRAW
12
developers are working within Ebbsfleet Garden City
homes complete
MILLION EDC’s investment to improve the Bean and Ebbsfleet junctions of the A2 in a project totalling £125 million
39
EBBS FLEET GARDEN CI TY MAP
EBBSFLEET GAR DEN CITY
OP P ORT UN
I T Y ARE A S
As homes continue to spring up across the area, Ebbsfleet Development Corporation remains focused on good quality design and best practice. As interest in the area from potential new residents soars, key projects are taking shape at a pace GEOGR APH
EXT ICAL C ON T
KING’S CROSS 17 MIN
EBBSFLEE T MASTERPL AN OPPORTUNIT Y SITES 1
Ebbsfleet Green
4
Northfleet West
2
Whitecliffe (Eastern Quarry)
5
Northfleet East
3
Swanscombe
6
Springhead Park
40
S U MMER
2019
EBBS F LE ET GA R DE N CITY MAP
3
4 5
SWANSCOMBE
SAWYER’S LAKE
2 1
EBB SF L EE T
G A RDEN
C I T Y
6
WOMBWELL PARK
41
EBBS FLEET GARDEN CI TY P ROJ ECTS
PROJECTS
E BBSFLE E T GR E EN Redrow is building up to 950 new homes across several phases, with over 100 homes already occupied. Launched in September 2018, the latest phase, Ebbsfleet Quarter, is delivering two-bedroom apartments and three and four-bedroom family homes in their heritage collection, built in the style of the Arts and Crafts movement. The homes, crafted to provide a traditional exterior influenced
42
by the 1920s era, have proved popular, with an earlier phase sold out. Each home offers the ability to charge an electric vehicle, aligning with government plans to reduce road transport emissions, and reflects the housebuilder’s commitment to creating sustainable communities. The first phase of Regent Square, providing a selection of three, four and fivebedroom homes has sold well and more homes are
due to be released. The Ebbsfleet Plaza development of one and two-bedroom apartments sold out. The new homes at Ebbsfleet Green are set within extensive open space, including allotments, sports pitches and play parks. A new primary school and community centre are proposed, and a hotel and pub have opened with further commercial space due to be provided.Â
Redrow is running a series of workshops for Royal Engineers studying at the Royal School of Military Engineering based at Chatham to give them practical experience of construction engineering disciplines. The company has also opened its new divisional headquarters at Ebbsfleet Green, relocating its 192-member team from their former office previously located in Chatham.
S U MMER
2019
EBBS F LE ET GA R DE N CITY PROJECTS
W HITECLI F F E Whitecliffe is the new name for the Eastern Quarry site given by Henley Camland, the residential infrastructure and placemaking group that is developing it. As the largest part of Ebbsfleet Garden City, it has outline planning permission for up to 6,250 homes along with a new market centre with public square, shops, bars and restaurants, office space, and a new primary and secondary education campus. A third of the development area will be open space, and a large urban park will help integrate the former chalk quarry with the new homes. There will be a series of smaller neighbourhood greens, local parks and play areas, all creating a unique garden city feel. The development comprises three distinct villages: Castle Hill, Alkerden and Ashmere. UK architecture firm PRP is the lead architect and masterplanner on Ashmere, which will form the largest village.
EBB SF L EE T
G A RDEN
C I T Y
Joint venture development partners Clarion Housing Group and Countryside are set to deliver almost 3,000 new homes for Henley Camland in what is one of the UK’s largest residential schemes. The homes will be linked to landscaped and open green spaces through walking and cycle paths, promoting wellbeing and quality of life. The joint venture’s involvement is expected to last well into 2035. The masterplan includes a detailed first phase of 250 homes to be delivered as part of a reserved matters planning application, delivering a strong, cohesive and inclusive community once complete. Manisha Patel, senior partner at PRP, said: “Our work as masterplanners and architects has meant we are heavily involved in shaping the future of this new district in north Kent, which is a very exciting prospect. We have worked with both
developers on a number of occasions and found they have a common focus of creating places with community values at heart, which has also been reflected in the masterplan for Ashmere village.” Almost 500 homes have been completed and occupied at Castle Hill, which will contain a total of 1,600 homes, a primary school, pub and shops. With the installation of new roads and landscaping, Henley Camland expects to complete 300 homes this year, alongside the pub and shops. Taylor Wimpey will build 539 homes in one of the last phases to complete and Clarion will build 460 homes for shared ownership or affordable rent. In preparation for housebuilding to start in 2020, major earthworks are taking place at Alkerden and Ashmere, set to be the heart of the area.
43
EBBS FLEET GARDEN CI TY P ROJ ECTS
N O RTH F L E E T
SWANSCOMB E Bellway Homes is launching its Ebbsfleet Cross development In Craylands Lane, Swanscombe, after receiving planning permission to build 100 homes at the end of 2018. The scheme of one and two-bedroom apartments and two and threebedroom houses will include 30 affordable homes, all within two miles of Ebbsfleet International station. The land has not been used in a decade since it was occupied by a plant hire company.
Keepmoat Homes has planning permission to build 598 new homes at Northfleet Embankment East on the banks of the River Thames. A new waterfront promenade and children’s park will open up the river to the public for the first time in 100 years on land occupied by old chalk and cement works. As well as outline planning permission for a new primary school, the plans include new riverfront retail space and community facilities, including improvements to the prominent WT Henley building, which has been in a state of disrepair for years. The scheme, designed by landscape architects Arc, Cooper Baillie Architects, and planners Barton Willmore, also draws on the site’s history, which encompasses former industrial uses in cable manufacturing and the Rosherville Pleasure Gardens, which was a Victorian leisure destination that featured a live bear in a pit. The mix of properties will include 374 private homes made up of two,
three and four-bedroom houses and one and two-bedroom apartments. There will be 224 affordable homes including 38 homes for rent, representing almost 40 per cent of the development. A series of new walking and cycling routes will link Keepmoat’s development with the rest of Ebbsfleet Garden City, giving residents easy access around the area and to the international station. The new development on Northfleet Embankment East is adjacent to an area set aside for employment opportunities and Northfleet Embankment West where 532 homes will be built, as well as employment space that could see up to 1,600 new jobs created. At the end of 2018, Benrose Property received planning permission to demolish the Rod End industrial estate in Northfleet and replace it with new, modern buildings. The plans will increase the commercial floorspace and create up to 90 jobs in a total of 19 new units.
44
S U MMER
2019
EBBS F LE ET GA R DE N CITY PROJECTS
S P R IN G H E A D PA R K A new waterfront promenade and children’s park will open up the river to the public for the first time in 100 years on land occupied by old chalk and cement works
EBB SF L EE T
G A RDEN
C I T Y
Countryside is nearing completion of the final phase of its Springhead Park development, with the first occupations expected in August 2019. The Parkview scheme will add 172 units including one and twobedroom apartments and two to four-bedroom houses. It completes the construction of 800 homes on the site that is surrounded by Central Park and is close to the Fastrack bus service. Countryside
secured some advanced pre-sales before official release of the phase. The development is part of Ebbsfleet Central, which is expected to deliver 3,384 homes, 493,700sq m of commercial space and 310,420sq m reserved for schools. Further areas earmarked for development include Station Quarter North and South in Dartford borough and Northfleet Rise in the borough of Gravesham.
45
EBBS FLEET GARDEN CI TY G ROWING C OMMUN I TI ES
“We are in the right place and at the right price point” J O S E P H MC DI A R MID S P RIN G RI VE R M A N AGE R
S O CIAL S E RVI CE The popularity of the garden city’s first pub and hotel shows people have an appetite for places where they can get together BY DE BBIE A S HF ORD
46
W
hen Spring River pub and restaurant opened at Ebbsfleet Green in September 2017, it stood in splendid isolation in a field, with the construction of Ebbsfleet Garden City just gearing up around it. Yet within two weeks of launching, it became the busiest restaurant run by British brewer Marston’s, which has over 1,500 pubs and is the country’s largest brewer of real ale. It now serves an average 4,500 meals a week. The pub was joined by a 104-room hotel in January 2018, and fills 95% of its rooms at weekends and 70% in the week. General manager Joseph McDiarmid says the demand was clearly there, but he puts the venue’s continued success down to a great product: “We are in the right place and at the right price point: we’ve got really good quality food that is very affordable. We get a real mixture of customers: locals and people who drive here from further afield. At weekends it’s families who come back regularly; at lunchtimes we get an older market
and business people; and at night we have the hotel guests. “I think that it’s essential that people have somewhere to go that’s nice and clean, with great space and a garden, looked after by a team that really cares. Obviously it’s not an old, traditional pub but it is a place of choice for people to meet up.” With 90% of the 80-strong staff employed coming from the local area, the business is making a big difference to the local economy. McDiarmid has seen a massive change in the surrounding area since the pub and hotel opened. He says: “There was nothing here before. Now a third of Redrow’s estate is already built up around us, out of about 1,000 units that are planned. The demand is only going to continue and we are already looking at putting an extension on the pub. “I’ve bought a house myself in the area that is just a three-minute commute - on foot. Eventually this all will be linked to Bluewater. It will be a different place in 10 years time.” S U MMER
2019
03 OCTOBER 2019 08.30 - 16.30 CentrEd at ExCel, Royal Victoria Dock, 1 Western Gateway, Royal Docks, London E16 1XL
The Government announced a multi-million pound package of commitments to drive forward growth in the Thames Estuary’s ambitious plans to create 1.3 million new jobs and generate an extra £190 billion for the local economy. In addition, the Greater London Authority, Essex County Council and Kent County Council have made significant progress in realising the Thames Estuary Production Corridor, boosting the region’s cultural and creative sector. • What does this mean for you and developments you are involved in or considering? • What new opportunities will it unlock? • How is that driving growth in the Thames Estuary? FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THAMES ESTUARY GROWTH DAY HERE
WWW.THAMESESTUARYGROWTHDAY.COM Discover how you can participate in a new era for the Thames Estuary at the Thames Estuary Growth Day.
CONTACT Jake Westhead jake@3foxinternational.com or call 0207 978 6840 to find out more or book your place.
PRICE
£149 + vat public sector* £349 + vat private sector * Limited number of free places available, enquire for more information
SOCIAL @ThamesEstGrowth #TEGD19
Coming Soon High-quality one and two-bedroom Shared Ownership apartments in the heart of Ebbsfleet Garden City, designed to offer everything a modern lifestyle requires. Register your interest today
UNITYGARDENS.CO.UK