On the waterfront

Above: .

Above: .

Due to the winding nature of the River Medway, Rochester has been forced to remain a compact town, sitting on the promontory created by the meandering river. As you cross the impressive bridge over the Medway when approaching from the west you can’t fail to notice the medieval grandeur of the castle, built in 1087, and the Cathedral that dates back to 604.
Steeped in history and though intensely proud of its association with Charles Dickens and historic High Street Rochester is, however, not languishing in the past nor holding back its progress to bring it into the 21st century. The town is part of a major new development called Medway Waterfront, which is intended to create a new linear city along 11 kilometres of the River Medway.
On completion it should provide up to 16,000 new homes and 40,000 jobs. ‘Rochester Riverside’ is one of six development areas that include Gillingham Waterfront, Chatham Centre and Waterfront, Chatham Maritime and St Mary’s Island, Strood Riverside and Temple Waterfront. Falling within the Government’s Thames Gateway Growth Area Rochester Riverside is being managed by Medway Council with its partner The South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) as part of the £1 billion regeneration project over the next 20 years.
So where can this amazing new piece of Rochester fit in? Well the site consists of 32 hectares on the riverside stretching from Rochester/Strood bridges southwards to Doust Way, between the River Medway and the London to Dover Railway line. At the moment the area is completely inaccessible to residents and visitors, but is intended to be transformed into an attractive place to live, work and most definitely play.

Master Plan
Rochester’s master plan and contribution to the whole Medway Waterfront project is to build a maximum of 2000 homes which will be apartments and town houses, and include 25 percent of affordable housing.
To entertain and nourish those new residents will be a range of bars, restaurants and cafés to entice visitors and locals to flood into the Waterfront Square – a central hub of leisure time activity that will also include an ‘inter-tidal habitat’ which in everyday language means an area of mudflats that encourages wildlife.
This enormous project also includes a new 400-430 space multi-storey car and coach park, which will benefit the existing High Street enormously, and an upgrade to the Blue Boar Lane that currently runs from the High Street to the waterfront will create an easy link, so ensuring that Rochester ‘old’ town and new can exist to the benefit of each other.

Rochester Riverside will transform the area, but the Medway town will never lose its historic heart

The developers are keen that this new ‘suburb’ of Rochester creates it own community flavour as new facilities will include a health centre and multi-purpose community centre. A primary school is also planned with play area and publicly-shared all-weather pitch to entice kids to get healthier and take part in sport.
A 2.5km riverside walk and cycle path are also on the agenda and will open up a stretch of riverside for the first time. Hotels are planned, the largest of which will have conference facilities, as is a new entrance to the station and, vitally important to the success of a brand new community, a park and outdoor play activities for children.
All this is intended to be finished by 2022 with the first new homes built by 2009 and the primary school and community facilities in place by 2011. The engineering contractor was appointed last year and already the gas holders on site have been demolished and site clearance finished, and any visitor to that area of Rochester will have seen the cranes in operation.

Viewing platform
In fact, there is a visitors’ viewing platform at the junction of Gas House Road and Cory’s Road for those interested in taking a look at how the work is progressing, and a small exhibition is included.
The first residential phase, which will be at the southern end of the development, stretches from Doust Way to Blue Boar Creek offering 550 new homes and the large park. The marketing for this contract started in 2006 and the first contractor should be selected sometime this year.
Involving the local community in this extensive and ambitious programme has been at the forefront of the project. Last summer, local residents, the business community, church representatives and various other local groups got together to talk about the facilities they wanted, with particular emphasis on the school, health and community facilities. Environmental considerations have also been given top priority. To meet government regulations a green charter has been published to make sure developers meet the minimum requirements on water usage, carbon emissions, sustainable building material, timber sources, plus recycling and waste management. Did you know, for instance, that in Britain an average of 155 litres of water per person is used daily? Under the green charter, Rochester Riverside aims to cut that by a third.
But before any of this can happen, a new 2.5km river wall, forming part of the development’s flood defences, has to be in place. This is making good progress and the new river edge is starting to take shape.
Much is being made of the need for the whole Riverside project to reflect the ultimate in modern design for buildings and landscaping. Now that planning permission has been secured from Medway Council and the initial stages are underway, all that needs to happen now is to select the developers. That will not happen until late this year.
In the meantime, the area is being prepared and the local community gets ready for a major upheaval on the banks of the Medway. It’s going to be a long haul.
Rochester Riverside will transform the area, but the Medway town will never lose its historic heart, thanks to the imposing castle, splendid Ccathedral and quaint High Street. Visitors will continue to flock there, and, no doubt, enjoy the eclectic mix of modern and historic.

Words and pictures by Hillary Everitt