As one the largest designated Growth Areas, the Thames Gateway is a national priority for regeneration. Successful redevelopment is Kent Thameside, covering 22 square miles, is critical to achieving wider Government’s aims.

Bounded by the Thames Estuary to the north and the Northern Downs to the south, due to the availability of brownfield sites, Kent Thameside has the space that is lacking elsewhere to sustain a significant level of growth - particularly in association with the delivery of the CTRL international and improved domestic train services, which open up rapid access to London and the Continent.

Yet despite this set context, the rate of change has been slow. Although many schemes have been advanced within the Kent Thameside area, there has been a limited volume of development starts, with schemes stalling around the issues of transport capacity, substantial site abnormalities, and possibly a desire to hold back until values rise on the back of the delivery of CTRL. More profoundly, as an entity the area currently lacks profile, connectivity, critical mass and a single unifying idea.

Within this context, the practice was commissioned by Urban Catalyst to form part of a project team working for the Kent Thameside Delivery Board to establish a ‘placemaking strategy’ – a set of projects and strategies that will set a new dynamic for delivery, quality and aspiration both in the physical form of buildings and spaces developed, and also in the quality of occupation. A series of imaginary conceptual site-based design suggestions are put forward to invigorate thinking.