21 - 07 - 2020
Featuring Chris Bath, Partner, Architecture – presentation held by the Housing Forum on 21 July 2020.
The ‘Re-setting Regeneration in Post Covid Times’ Development Partnership Forum was conducted by the Housing Forum in partnership Kent Housing Group and focused on development within Kent and the south east. It examined the characteristics of garden cities, garden villages and new settlements in achieving housing regeneration with a perspective on the impact of Covid 19 on progress and future plans. BPTW Partner Chris Bath contributed to the forum with a presentation to delegates on Rochester Riverside Phase 1B which was awarded the Housing Design Award’s first ever Building for a Healthy Life Award and the Winner of Winners Award.
Chris’s presentation described the difficulties faced by the area located on the river Medway following the closure on the Chatham dockyard in the 80s and the subsequent faltering of redevelopment plans. It was not until £100m of public funding for site assembly and flood defences alongside an improved railway station that the landmark, seven-phase masterplan by HTA Design finally got underway. Designed for developers Countryside and housing association Hyde, BPTW’s Rochester Riverside Phase 1 provides 489 homes in a design that accommodates many of the qualities required for life ‘post Covid’. Including generous living spaces, internal layouts that promote working from home, high-quality private amenity spaces and a beautiful landscaped river walk right on the development’s doorstep.
BPTW is a long-term and active member of the Housing Forum and has contributed to many talks and events to raise the quality of housing in England.
Further information on the discussion topics presented in the Development Partnership Forum are available from the Housing Forum’s website here.
