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Chatham Maritime Commemorates 20 YEARS of
Regeneration with the Launch of Anniversary Book
10 December 2004
 Youngsters at St Mary's Island Church of England Primary School were today (Friday 10 December) the first to receive a copy of a book published by the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) to commemorate the 20 th anniversary of the start of Chatham Maritime.
The book, called 'Chatham Maritime…..A Success Story', features scores of photographs of the 140-hectare site, which was part of the dockyard until the Navy departed in March 1984.
The photographs, covering the period from the 1950s to the present day, illustrate the changing face of the area from its time as a working Naval dockyard, to its transformation into the thriving business and residential community it is today.
SEEDA Director of Development and Infrastructure, Paul Hudson, said: "We are very proud of the regeneration of Chatham Maritime. This site was derelict after the departure of the Navy in 1984 and the future of the Medway Towns was bleak. It is wonderful to look at Chatham Maritime now, where 2,000 people already live and more than 3,000 people work, and see the site thriving once again.
"We hope this book will remind everyone of the area’s incredible history and just how far we and our predecessors English Partnerships have come in the past 20 years to create a new, vibrant community on this site."
SEEDA Project Director Jonathan Sadler, who visited St Mary's Island Church of England Primary School to hand out the books to approximately 300 pupils, said:
"None of the children here today were born when the dockyard closed and although they will have been told stories by their parents and grandparents, we wanted to be able to give them something they could keep to remind them of the legacy of this place.
"Even as recently as a few years ago there was no primary school, no community centre and no doctor’s surgery on St Mary's Island, and now the residents there have all these facilities. There have also been major leaps forward on the rest of Chatham Maritime, where we now have a million square feet of office space, the £50 million Universities at Medway Initiative, a pub, restaurant, hotel and retail outlet store with more than 80 shops.
"And there is still the future to look forward to – more businesses are choosing to make Chatham Maritime their home, more homes are being built on St Mary's Island, and the Universities at Medway campus will eventually see student numbers rise to 6,000 at the site and add more than £10 million every year to the local economy. There is also planning permission for a number of other bars and restaurants around the marina. We are dedicated to making Chatham Maritime a long-term success story."
Work is due to start on two state-of-the-art towers of luxury apartments, plus the bars and restaurants next to the marina, in January 2005. Kent Police Constabulary has already started work on its new Medway headquarters at the site, as has mhs homes, Medway’s largest independent landlord.
The former Naval Drill Hall is in the process of being converted into a Learning Resource Centre which will be open to all students and staff at the Universities of Medway, plus members of the public. The University of Kent and Mid-Kent College are due to join the University of Greenwich and Canterbury Christ Church University College , which are already at the site, in September 2005, when they move into a new four-storey building currently under construction.
There will eventually be 2,000 homes on St Mary's Island and 5,000 residents. Elsewhere on Chatham Maritime, next to the Dockside Outlet Centre, planning permission is being sought for a nine-screen cinema and a visitor attraction based on the works of Charles Dickens.
Copies of Chatham Maritime... A Success Story, will also be delivered to every home on St Mary’s Island.
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