Lloyd’s Wharf, Sittingbourne

Key features of the new development proposals

The site location and boundary on the south of Milton Creek are shown on the aerial map.

Largely wasteland at present, the site is a special place in the town, due to its location on the water’s edge, its shape and as a result of the existing uses and community groups that are based on or nearby the Wharf.

The vision for the site by architects Darling Associates is to enhance its uniqueness through sensitive new place-making, not only linking to its historical past but also creating an attractive new destination where people will want to visit and interact.

The draft proposals envisage a new wharf-side development of 187 new homes with a mix of one, two and three-bedroomed apartments as well as town houses. The design inspiration for these is a lost Kentish style of Victorian wharf and warehouse buildings ranging from three to nine-storeys.

All the buildings will front onto an active and vibrant waterside edge to the north, where there is the opportunity to provide activity and performance space as well as a ‘heritage walk’ with information points and a hide for bird-watching. To the southern rear of the proposed buildings, external landscaped gardens will provide residents with private amenity space.

The tallest building at nine-storeys will be a marker block that will be identifiable within the wider context and help signify the wharf’s location and importance.

By creating an open, residential frontage along Lloyd’s Wharf, the proposal would help create a link between the new community/historical waterside, the new Redrow residential development, and the expansive existing residential areas to the west and south.

A dedicated access will be provided at the south-western corner of the site and this will allow for cars to reach the on-site car parking as well as pedestrians and cyclists. There will be generous and secure provision of cycle parking.

The completed development would provide an improved public realm for existing community uses along Lloyd’s Wharf, as well as providing enhanced links to the existing high street and transport links from Sittingbourne Station.

There is the potential in the future to create a walking/cycling route that connects the site and Barge Museum to the existing Saxon Shore Way coast path, which currently passes through central Sittingbourne. This would expand the local public realm and make the waterside a more desirable destination for local people and visitors.