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. I have hated the words "compulsory purchase" ever since our 1st home was compulsory purchased by Chatham Council way back in 1962. It took 10 years for them to buy it, never giving us the chance to modernise it with all the Grant's available then or being able to put it on the market to step up the house owner ladders. Good luck Medway you may get rid of "The Eyesore" in 10 to 20 years time. Comments are closed.
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