Spirit of Sittingbourne, Kent
The Spirit of Sittingbourne was formed with a vision of making Sittingbourne in Kent, a better place to live, breathing life into the town centre through innovation and regeneration.
The development is a £100 million Public Private Partnership between U+I Group, Swale Borough Council, Quinn Estates and Essential Land. U + I Group transform areas of towns and cities into thriving communities and neighbourhoods, with a portfolio of mixed-use regeneration projects within London, the south-east, Manchester and Dublin.
The Spirit of Sittingbourne scheme involves remodelling the town centre and introducing of a new highway arrangement outside the railway station, to create a more pedestrian-friendly environment without restricting traffic flow.
There will also be a leisure quarter with new public realm providing a link between the High Street and the mainline train station, a 7-screen cinema and 7 new restaurants (28,300 sq. ft), bringing an estimated 400,000 additional visitors a year to the town.
The plans also include 215 town centre homes, a new multi–story car park and a retail site. Overall the it will deliver a £250 million investment into Sittingbourne in its first 10 years and create 1,100 jobs in the area across phases 1 and 2.
Planning permission for phase 1 was granted on Monday 16th March 2015 by Swale Borough Council and construction began in April 2016.
As part of U+I’s place-making activity, they brought an empty shop on Sittingbourne High Street back to life in October 2015. No. 34 is now a flexible workspace for local business start-ups, which is run by the team at Ideas Test with funding from Arts Council England and Kent County Council. No. 34 provides flexible workspace aimed at supporting local business start-ups and runs a programme of digital and business skills support for emerging creative businesses.
Project data:
- Development partners: Swale Borough Council, Quinn Estates, Essential Land
- Date acquired: Nov 2011
- Value: £100m
- Architect: Guy Hollaway Architects, The Harris Partnership
--U and I
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki:
- Algarve House, Southwark.
- Articles by U and I.
- Blackhorse Road regeneration.
- Cathedral Group.
- Circus Street, Brighton.
- Cockpit Yard.
- Development Securities.
- Friarsgate Shopping Centre, Lichfield.
- Mixed-use development.
- Placemaking.
- Preston Barracks, Brighton.
- Public private partnership.
- The Deptford Project.
- The Movement, Greenwich.
- U and I.
- UandI Think event with John McDonnell MP.
Featured articles and news
For the World Autism Awareness Month of April.
70+ experts appointed to public sector fire safety framework
The Fire Safety (FS2) Framework from LHC Procurement.
Project and programme management codes of practice
CIOB publications for built environment professionals.
Sustainable development concepts decade by decade.
The regenerative structural engineer
A call for design that will repair the natural world.
Buildings that mimic the restorative aspects found in nature.
CIAT publishes Principal Designer Competency Framework
For those considering applying for registration as a PD.
BSRIA Building Reg's guidance: The second staircase
An overview focusing on aspects which most affect the building services industry.
Design codes and pattern books
Harmonious proportions and golden sections.
Introducing or next Guest Editor Arun Baybars
Practising architect and design panel review member.
Quick summary by size, shape, test, material, use or bonding.
Types of rapidly renewable content
From forestry to agricultural crops and their by-products.
Terraced houses and the public realm
The discernible difference between the public realm of detached housing and of terraced housing.