Chatham Town Centre Regeneration
Regeneration strategy, heritage conservation, waterfront regeneration
A strategic vision for the sustainable regeneration of Chatham’s historic waterfront and town centre rooted in the context.
Client: Medway Council
Location: Kent
Status: Design
Chatham is located in the heart of Medway and known for its naval history, strategic importance for trade, proximity to the countryside and culturally diverse population. Our vision and design approach for the focus area was to use and enhance the existing historic assets as key directives to underpin and inform a resilient town centre regeneration programme.
Key project themes include:
Revealing the waterfront
Designing for local distinctiveness
Developing a resilient economy
Revealing the waterfront
The riverfront is Chatham’s hidden asset. A continuous riverside route is promoted as a linear public space, which provides an attractive corridor for active travel and hosts new riverfront spaces, including a brand new riverfront piazza. As smooth and easy access to the riverfront is developed, it creates multiple opportunities for new development around the river, taking advantage of the riverside context, new frontage and access routes.
Designing for local distinctiveness
The proposals establish a series of character areas ranging from large waterfront piazza, new open space in front of Pentagon and Brooks Theatre, defined movement corridors to riverfront, a new gateway square and a bus square. These are interconnected to each other with the network of connecting streets and squares providing pedestrians with a rich and engaging environment.
Developing a resilient economy
Currently people use the area out of necessity rather than choice. Many areas turn inactive by early evenings due to lack of facilities to encourage socialising or activities within the space. Our approach for creating a vibrant economy stems from the consideration of the social dimensions of public realm. It aims to frame the spaces with active uses that can be used for a plethora of activities through out the day, night and seasons.
