Ambitious plans to redevelop Mountbatten House in Chatham into homes and rooftop bar approved28/4/2021
Plans by Medway Council's own housing company to redevelop an 'eyesore' office block in Chatham town centre have been given the go-ahead. Mountbatten House, which sits above Chatham's Pentagon Shopping Centre, will be converted and extended to accommodate 164 flats, while a rooftop bar with unique views across Medway will also open to the public. As part of the redevelopment, 17 of the flats will be available as affordable shared ownership units with a further 24 units for affordable rent at a separate site. A new public square is set to be created on the site of the former bus station ramps with space for small restaurants, pop-up retail kiosks or market stalls in reused shipping containers. The existing taxi rank will also be improved and entrances to the Pentagon Centre remodelled. A total of 147 car parking spaces will be provided within the former Pentagon bus station and a further 108 parking spaces for bicycles included. The proposals, drawn up by Lyall Bills & Young Architects and C.F. Møller Architects, were put forward by Medway Council's housing arm - Medway Development Company (MDC) - at the end of last year. At Medway Council's planning committee tonight (Wednesday, 28 April), the redevelopment was approved with 7 members in favour and 4 against it. The scheme was prepared as part of the Council's ambitions to buy the empty office block from the current owners through a process known as a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO). The CPO was first earmarked in 2019 when it emerged that Mapeley Gamma, the current owner of Mountbatten House, did not wish to sell the building to Medway Council. It was also said at the time that the expected cost of obtaining a CPO may amount to at least £250,000 - although no precise figure has been revealed to date. This could be supported by a further £6m that remains from the initial £45m budget towards the purchase of Chatham's Pentagon Shopping Centre in April 2019. The Council bought the shopping centre for nearly £35m instead. Work on the redevelopment will begin once the CPO has been finalised at an unknown date. Mountbatten House is a purpose-built office block from the 1970s, infamously dubbed an 'eyesore' for the vast majority of its life.
It was home to large, national banking groups such as Lloyds TSB, Scottish Widows and Black Horse Financial from the 1980s until it became vacant - and has stood empty ever since - the early 2000s. An application by Mapeley Gamma to convert the empty offices into 112 apartments was approved in 2018 - however, this did not come to fruition. A new fishmongers has officially opened its doors in Chatham High Street, selling fresh seafood from the UK's largest inland fish market. Kent Quality Fish, located opposite the old Debenhams, is believed to be the town centre's first fishmongers in decades. From cod to tuna and salmon to shrimp, the new shop sells dozens of different sustainable, organic and frozen fish sourced from Billingsgate Market in Canary Wharf, London. The fishmongers is open seven days a week and provides a delivery service to Kent, Surrey and London. A spokesperson for Kent Quality Fish said: "The business will provide Chatham residents with fresh, sustainable, organic fish and frozen fish sourced from Billingsgate Market, London.
"Products are sourced from every part of the world and we only bring the highest quality available. We specialise in a diverse range of fish, crustaceans and molluscs." Local Medway people with previous experience in the seafood industry or have worked in a fishmongers shop are urged to get in touch for job openings, the spokesperson added. The new fishmongers opened in an empty retail unit previously an Age UK charity shop, after it permanently closed last September. You can find Kent Quality Fish on Instagram and Facebook, while pre-orders and deliveries may be arranged by calling 01634 818161. Take a look inside one of Britain's very first large buildings with electric lights following recently completed work to restore and convert it into premium apartments. Pictures show how part of the former Theatre Royal in Chatham High Street looks following an extensive project to turn the disused building into three luxury apartments - which are on sale for £400,000 each. The ground floor of the 1899-built Theatre Royal is also set to become a small restaurant. As a Grade II-listed building, all of the old theatre's architectural features have been retained and restored to preserve its 122-year-old historic character, including an original staircase inside. In a listing of the new apartments on its website, estate agents Haart said: "Whilst retaining and respecting the charm and character of such a stunning building, the interior has undergone major renovations in recent months to create a collection of bespoke, luxury apartments like never seen before. "From original cornices, feature stained glass windows and beautiful staircases, the cohesion between modern luxury and generations of character is magnificent." Some of the spacious rooms inside the premium-priced apartments also boast ceilings that are 13ft high and have large arched windows. Plans to convert the former Theatre Royal building into apartments were first revealed in October 2019, which were later approved by Medway Council last spring.
Built in 1899, the local landmark was one of the country's largest buildings to use electric lights at the time and had a capacity of 3,000 seats in its now-demolished auditorium. It played host to some of the biggest names in showbiz at the time, including Charlie Chaplin and Gracie Fields. However, the Theatre Royal was subject to at least three major fires during its lifetime and eventually the curtains fell for the final time in 1955 amid growing competition from the television. A furniture showroom occupied most of the foyer areas in the early 1980s and used the auditorium, whose floor had been levelled in concrete, for storage. When the showroom permanently closed, neglect and vandalism led to even more deterioration. In 1982 the Theatres Trust deemed the theatre to be "probably too far gone to make restoration economically feasible". Throughout the 1980s, a local campaign gained momentum to restore the theatre back to its former glory following a demolition threat. The Theatre Royal Chatham Trust was set up by conservationists in the following decade and acquired tenure of the theatre. They then began to clean, repair and secure the vacant premises. Progress stalled for some years later because the Council held possession of the stage area and showed little appetite to release it to the community. The sudden halt was, however, resolved in 1997 when the new unitary authority, Medway Council, decided to support the Theatre Royal Chatham Trust. It was hoped that this would be a move towards the reopening of Chatham’s only remaining purpose-designed theatre at the time, but costs were estimated to be at least £20 million by 2002 and the project was, in turn, abandoned. In 2004 the old theatre was sold for an undisclosed sum of money. The disused building fell into such a dangerous state of disrepair that the 3,000-seat auditorium was demolished in April 2009 after it collapsed - with just the façade and front of house retained, which stand to this very day and are now occupied by the premium apartments. For an in-depth overview of the history of Chatham's Theatre Royal, visit the Theatres Trust website, the Arthur Lloyd website or the Libervitae online resource. Chatham Railway Station to have step-free access for the first time with new lifts and footbridge23/4/2021
Work on a multi-million pound project to provide step-free access at Chatham Railway Station for the very first time begins this month. The upgrades will see the station's ticket hall and its two platforms connected with new lifts and a footbridge to the rear of the main building. As part of the improvements, the platforms serving passengers will also be resurfaced and drainage works carried out. Work on the project begins this month, starting with the removal of the station's old footbridge on Sunday, 2 May. A replacement bus service will be in place and passengers are advised to check their plans and make adjustments for the extra time these road journeys may take. The overall project is set to be completed in May 2022. It's hoped that the scheme, which has been allocated up to £4 million, will make the station much easier to access for passengers with mobility issues, as well as elderly people and parents with young children. Although the new lifts and footbridge will have a modern design, the structures will be clad in traditional brickwork to match the historic main building of the station as close as possible.
Network Rail advises that existing walking routes through the station may temporarily change and part of the car park will be closed during the work. The work is being delivered by Network Rail as part of the Department for Transport's Access for All programme, which will see accessibility improvements worth £300m rolled out at 73 railway stations across Britain by 2024. BAM Nuttall will be completing the work at Chatham Railway Station on behalf of Network Rail. For more information, visit the Network Rail website or call its 24/7 national helpline on 03457 11 41 41. |
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