| Client | Muse Developments |
|---|---|
| Turley office | London |
| Status | Planning permission granted |
| LPA | Dartford Borough Council |
Key mixed-use regeneration site for Dartford town centre
Our role
- Acting on behalf of Muse Developments, as development partner to Dartford Borough Council and Homes England, we submitted a planning application in March 2020 for the redevelopment of a primarily vacant and underutilised site in Dartford Town Centre. Truly mixed in nature, the proposals comprise a hotel, cinema, flexible commercial units, a health facility and 120 dwellings.
- The nature of the proposals required drawing on our wide range of specialist services. This included our Heritage and Townscape team robustly assessing the impact to nearby listed buildings and a conservation area, our Economics team conducting assessments of economic benefits and retail health, and our EIA team successfully screening the development as not triggering EIA.
- As a scheme with the local authority as the main landowner and joint applicant, we worked hard to ensure a robust, comprehensive and well consulted application was submitted, to best stand up to scrutiny and limit the risk of judicial review. This was balanced with ensuring an optimised and futureproofed scheme that best aids in overcoming viability constraints.
Results
- Dartford town centre is in need of development and renewal to compete with other nearby settlements. The redevelopment of this 2.5 ha site will contribute towards the positive transformation of the town centre and act as a catalyst for further investment and regeneration.
- The proposals entail the sustainable development of a central, underutilised brownfield site to deliver an exciting mix of leisure (including an eight screen cinema), hospitality (including an 85 room hotel), community, commercial and residential uses, which together will revitalise the town centre and ensure its long term future.
- As a predominantly vacant site, the development represents a significant change to the existing built form and context of the town centre, including a ground plus eight storey building, which will be one of the tallest in the town centre.