IT TAKES a big leap of the imagination to envisage Dartford as a land of
olive-munching internet entrepreneurs. A byword for industrial and social
decay, the west Kent area would appear to have little going for it. But the
designer Wayne Hemingway, better known for his Red or Dead fashion label,
thinks otherwise and has pledged to bring some “aspirational” living to a
town in desperate need of a facelift.
Hemingway cut his development teeth in Gateshead on Staiths South Bank, a
Wimpey Homes scheme built on contaminated land in a rundown part of the
North East. He was invited to join the housebuilding giant after lambasting
the “Wimpeyfication and Barrattisation” of housing. A novel way, perhaps, of
gaining employment, but one that has paid off handsomely for both parties.
The development has sold well, won design awards and launched Hemingway’s
second career as an urban designer.
The Dartford project, on which he has again teamed up with Wimpey, had
similarly inauspicious beginnings. “It is an unloved site that was seen as
not suitable,” says Hemingway, and he has a point.
Named The Bridge after the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge that arcs across the
skyline near by, the site is within sniffing distance of a sewage works and
next door to a power station. Fortunately Hemingway is a positive man. “We
started to celebrate the location and its industrial heritage rather than
hiding it. There is a beauty in cars going by on the M25 in the sky.”
The site also benefits from a natural beauty that few would credit. It is
within walking distance of the Thames, a stroll that takes you through
Victorian walkways bordered by arching trees and horse-filled fields before
leading to a quiet riverside path. “If you look at it from that angle you
will understand what a wonderful opportunity the region is,” says Hemingway.
As a big, mixed-use regeneration project for the Thames Gateway, The Bridge
has the chance to set the tone for the rest of the building programme. When
it is complete 1,500 homes will sit among 80 acres of public, open space
including an eco park, two reclaimed lakes and a school.
Norman Sharpe, Wimpey’s South East managing director, says that the first
phase of 243 homes will be offered for sale off-plan early next year. Almost
half will be apartments starting at about £150,000, with the rest of the
first phase three, four and five-bedroom homes. The largest will, says
Sharpe, be on the market for up to £400,000. In succeeding phases the
proportion of family homes will increase, he insists, mindful of the falling
demand for flats.
As you would expect from a scheme influenced by Wayne Hemingway, the homes are
not the usual new-build fare. “There will be open-plan, reverse living
(living rooms on the first floor) and shells with only the services in so
you can finish the house yourself. There may be only a minority of people
who want this but we should cater for everyone,” explains Hemingway. It is
modern housing for what it is hoped will be a modern, young buyer.
Sharpe says: “We are looking at people who wouldn’t otherwise look at Dartford
and whom you wouldn’t normally associate with buying a Wimpey house.”
Hemingway puts it another way: “There is a significant proportion of people
who laugh at what a lot of the housebuilders do. We are part of that group
and we want to create developments that attract entrepreneurial people like
us. That changes the way you design places to live; you need a place where
you can work and live, where you can get your milk and olives.”
All homes will be fitted with wireless internet and Hemingway is keen to
introduce this facility across the whole development. “When I take my
children to the park I want to be able to take my laptop and do some work.”
That kind of innovation, he believes, will fit the flexible working patterns
of the future and draw people from Greenwich and Deptford: “Urban pioneers
and first-time buyers who want to create a place.”
He points out that Hoxton was once a rundown part of town and is now the
creative heart of London. Could this be the birth of Hoxton on Thames? For a
place in need of a break it is an exciting thought, but perhaps not the
project’s strongest selling point.
Charlie Hart, head of Knight Frank’s Thames Gateway office, says:
“Infrastructure is the key. The big thing for Dartford will be the Channel
Tunnel Rail Link at Ebbsfleet; large-scale development will link that whole
part of north Kent to London.” Only 17 minutes will separate Ebbsfleet from
King’s Cross, with Paris only two hours in the opposite direction. The
Bridge will be linked to this line by a transport system called Fastrack,
which will also ferry residents around the development and to Bluewater.
Hart is confident that the market here will grow. “People will live outside
London,” he says, and the extensive infrastructure gives it a head start on
other developments in the Gateway. Those in Kent currently labouring in to
work on ancient lines will no doubt be tempted by the faster commute and
London families unable to afford a city garden may come in search of open,
green space.
It sounds like the perfect recipe for a transient, commuter community — an
oasis of wealth in a deprived area and a trap that many new developments
around London fall into. But Hemingway trusts that good design, based on Red
or Dead’s affordable-chic ethos, and high-quality facilities, will “attract
first-time buyers who want to put roots down”.
Some may scoff at a celebrity fashionista as the country’s unofficial housing
design guardian, but shaking housebuilders out of their torpor is never a
bad thing and Hemingway has a track record of success. Let’s hope this
continues since, with nine more projects in the pipeline, he may be coming
to a neighbourhood near you.
www.thebridgedartford.co.uk
URBANWARRIOR
