Kent Science Park – The first expansion and other failures
20
Apr
At the start of 2008 the Kent Science Park suffered a humiliating defeat at the
public inquiry of council’s then local plan when an independently appointed government
inspector rejected plans for the inclusion of a 6-hectare expansion on the
grounds that the case for growth had not been proven.
This was all the more embarrassing given that at the exact same time as the inquiry had been taking place the owners of the park had been undertaking public consultations on a significantly larger scale expansion totalling some 234 hectares, including 5,000 houses.
Only a year earlier the Kent Science Park had to publicly drop plans for a 20,000 sq ft conversion of an existing building to create a new bio-accelerator unit. This was to offer smaller laboratory spaces and accommodation for more than 40 businesses with a publicly funded £1.3 million grant from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister which the park claimed it had secured.
Nick Sharp, site director at the time, said: "The Bio-Accelerator will provide an important business incubation facility, particularly for companies in the bioscience sector which has seen considerable expansion in Kent over the last decade."
The only problem, it wasn’t true. Whilst the park had applied for the funding, they were either ineligible or ultimately unsuccessful in their bid.
Undeterred the owners of the Kent Science Park then put forward a series of planning applications.
Initially the first of the applications was rejected by Swale Borough Council on road safety grounds. Then a further three planning applications were submitted on the condition of substantial road improvements.
The first of these was for a £1.5 million Arrivals Centre which was approved in February 2009.
Site director James Speck said: “We are determined to lead by example and this decision will enable us to dramatically improve the first impression for people arriving at Kent Science Park.”
Andrew Bull of LaSalle Investment Management, managers of Kent Science Park, said: “This new building is an integral part of a £25 million programme of investment which will create a further 500 jobs at the Park over the next four to five years.
“The application is part of our on-going efforts to ensure we play our part in diversifying Swale’s economy by attracting new businesses, technologies and jobs to the area.”
Unfortunately, the Arrivals Centre never did arrive, and the planning application was allowed to expire, presumably along with the £1.5 million investment.
Secondly and quite surprisingly given that only months earlier the 6-hectare expansion plans had been rejected, the Kent Science Park put forward plans for a 4-hectare expansion for 12,000 m² of class B1 business development. This was combined with a third application for two new technology units and both applications were subsequently approved in March 2010 following a number of revisions.
At the time considerable emphasis was placed on the pressing need for expansion beyond the security fence in order to meet growth projections until 2015 and also that there was no scope within the security fence for this expansion to take place.
With the benefit of hindsight, given the 15 years that have since elapsed, we know that both of those presumptions were unwarranted.
The planning application suggested that waiting for an existing tenant or new inward company to confirm interest in new building and then undertaking the planning process is unattractive and an unsustainable basis on which to operate the park.
Then, possibly with some irony, the park put forward existing tenant Ecologia as a significant and urgent case for expansion, to assist in its commercial growth. Kent Science Park claimed at the time that it would reach full occupation of the existing buildings at some point between 2012 and 2015, which retrospectively we know did not happen.
The park’s site director James Speck said he was delighted that Ecologia wished to grow and said it was the kind of ambitious company that was essential to the Swale’s economic regeneration.
Ecologia, who at the time occupied five buildings 711, 712, 713, 715 and 716b totalling approx. 950m2 wished to relocate to a single new building with 2,852m2 of floorspace with 66 car parking spaces which was to become their international headquarters.
Ecologia, who were acquired by RSK Group in 2019, never did move out of their existing offices and are still operating at Kent Science Park to this day.
Given that the expansion was predicated on a 5 year plan leading upto the start of 2015, it was disappointing that by March 2013 with no sign of development on the horizon the owners of the park were forced to seek an extension of time for the 4-hectare expansion.
More time passed and with zero progress being made, in December 2017 a planning decision notice is granted by Swale Borough Council providing another 3 years to commence development.
Now more than10 years since first being approved and with the extension of time on the verge of expiring for a second time on 13th December 2020, the Kent Science Park submit a new hybrid planning application in August 2020 for outline permission for commercial development of 5 plots, and full permission for the erection of a new manufacturing facility for GW Pharmaceuticals.
The land area now measuring some 4.83 hectares and with a significantly increased floorspace of 21,948 m² split across the 6 plots, albeit with the major share of this destined for the new 11,770 m² 16.5 metre tall GW Pharmaceuticals product manufacturing facility.
GW Pharmaceuticals are a world-leading producer of cannabinoid-based medicines for domestic, European and North American markets and the new building was to provide growth capacity for existing products, and also for pipeline products as these come to market.
By February 2021 following discussions a revised application was proposed reducing the development density back to the original 12,000 m² by removing 3 of the plots and rearranging another 2. This resulted in a reduction in the size of the GW building on Plot 2 down to 7,474 m² along with other minor changes.
By 23rd December 2021 full permission was granted for Plot 2 and outline for Plots 1 and 3, along with a retrospective extension of time that required that the GW building be commenced by 21st December 2024 and by March 2024 a staggering 14 years since gaining permission building work finally commenced.
Then only 6 months later in September 2024, due to what is referred to as a change of strategy by GW Pharmaceuticals, an application is made to demolish the work which had been undertaken to date on the GW building, which mostly entailed the dismantling of a giant steel frame.
By October 2024 a new detailed planning application had been put forward for Plots 1 and 3 which are designed to accommodate a primary space (suitable for storage or research and development and manufacturing), alongside ancillary office floor space. Plot 1 has a floor area of 1,260 m² and Plot 3 has a floor area of 3,266 m².
The application is currently with Swale Borough Council awaiting a decision.
Interestingly there is a condition on Plot 2 stipulating that the building shall not be occupied by any other user than GW Pharmaceuticals without additional car parking provision agreed and approved in writing as GW Pharmaceuticals had previously demonstrated low operational car parking requirements.
The new application was evidently prepared without knowledge of the demolition of the building on Plot 2 and therefore doesn’t accommodate for any additional parking and given that the frame has been dismantled I would expect that an entirely new detailed application will be forthcoming at some point in the future.
This was all the more embarrassing given that at the exact same time as the inquiry had been taking place the owners of the park had been undertaking public consultations on a significantly larger scale expansion totalling some 234 hectares, including 5,000 houses.
Land area for the proposed 6-hectare expansion of Kent Science Park
Only a year earlier the Kent Science Park had to publicly drop plans for a 20,000 sq ft conversion of an existing building to create a new bio-accelerator unit. This was to offer smaller laboratory spaces and accommodation for more than 40 businesses with a publicly funded £1.3 million grant from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister which the park claimed it had secured.
Nick Sharp, site director at the time, said: "The Bio-Accelerator will provide an important business incubation facility, particularly for companies in the bioscience sector which has seen considerable expansion in Kent over the last decade."
The only problem, it wasn’t true. Whilst the park had applied for the funding, they were either ineligible or ultimately unsuccessful in their bid.
Undeterred the owners of the Kent Science Park then put forward a series of planning applications.
Initially the first of the applications was rejected by Swale Borough Council on road safety grounds. Then a further three planning applications were submitted on the condition of substantial road improvements.
The first of these was for a £1.5 million Arrivals Centre which was approved in February 2009.
Proposed Kent Science Park Arrivals Centre, which never arrived
Site director James Speck said: “We are determined to lead by example and this decision will enable us to dramatically improve the first impression for people arriving at Kent Science Park.”
Andrew Bull of LaSalle Investment Management, managers of Kent Science Park, said: “This new building is an integral part of a £25 million programme of investment which will create a further 500 jobs at the Park over the next four to five years.
“The application is part of our on-going efforts to ensure we play our part in diversifying Swale’s economy by attracting new businesses, technologies and jobs to the area.”
Unfortunately, the Arrivals Centre never did arrive, and the planning application was allowed to expire, presumably along with the £1.5 million investment.
Secondly and quite surprisingly given that only months earlier the 6-hectare expansion plans had been rejected, the Kent Science Park put forward plans for a 4-hectare expansion for 12,000 m² of class B1 business development. This was combined with a third application for two new technology units and both applications were subsequently approved in March 2010 following a number of revisions.
Showing the location of the 4-hectare expansion of Kent Science Park
At the time considerable emphasis was placed on the pressing need for expansion beyond the security fence in order to meet growth projections until 2015 and also that there was no scope within the security fence for this expansion to take place.
With the benefit of hindsight, given the 15 years that have since elapsed, we know that both of those presumptions were unwarranted.
The planning application suggested that waiting for an existing tenant or new inward company to confirm interest in new building and then undertaking the planning process is unattractive and an unsustainable basis on which to operate the park.
Then, possibly with some irony, the park put forward existing tenant Ecologia as a significant and urgent case for expansion, to assist in its commercial growth. Kent Science Park claimed at the time that it would reach full occupation of the existing buildings at some point between 2012 and 2015, which retrospectively we know did not happen.
Proposed new Ecologia international headquarters, which never happened
The park’s site director James Speck said he was delighted that Ecologia wished to grow and said it was the kind of ambitious company that was essential to the Swale’s economic regeneration.
Ecologia, who at the time occupied five buildings 711, 712, 713, 715 and 716b totalling approx. 950m2 wished to relocate to a single new building with 2,852m2 of floorspace with 66 car parking spaces which was to become their international headquarters.
Ecologia, who were acquired by RSK Group in 2019, never did move out of their existing offices and are still operating at Kent Science Park to this day.
Given that the expansion was predicated on a 5 year plan leading upto the start of 2015, it was disappointing that by March 2013 with no sign of development on the horizon the owners of the park were forced to seek an extension of time for the 4-hectare expansion.
More time passed and with zero progress being made, in December 2017 a planning decision notice is granted by Swale Borough Council providing another 3 years to commence development.
New scheme with 6 units, GW Pharmaceuticals building on Plot 2
Now more than10 years since first being approved and with the extension of time on the verge of expiring for a second time on 13th December 2020, the Kent Science Park submit a new hybrid planning application in August 2020 for outline permission for commercial development of 5 plots, and full permission for the erection of a new manufacturing facility for GW Pharmaceuticals.
The land area now measuring some 4.83 hectares and with a significantly increased floorspace of 21,948 m² split across the 6 plots, albeit with the major share of this destined for the new 11,770 m² 16.5 metre tall GW Pharmaceuticals product manufacturing facility.
GW Pharmaceuticals are a world-leading producer of cannabinoid-based medicines for domestic, European and North American markets and the new building was to provide growth capacity for existing products, and also for pipeline products as these come to market.
By February 2021 following discussions a revised application was proposed reducing the development density back to the original 12,000 m² by removing 3 of the plots and rearranging another 2. This resulted in a reduction in the size of the GW building on Plot 2 down to 7,474 m² along with other minor changes.
Reduced scheme with 3 units, GW Pharmaceuticals building on centre plot
By 23rd December 2021 full permission was granted for Plot 2 and outline for Plots 1 and 3, along with a retrospective extension of time that required that the GW building be commenced by 21st December 2024 and by March 2024 a staggering 14 years since gaining permission building work finally commenced.
Then only 6 months later in September 2024, due to what is referred to as a change of strategy by GW Pharmaceuticals, an application is made to demolish the work which had been undertaken to date on the GW building, which mostly entailed the dismantling of a giant steel frame.
Steel frame of GW-Pharmaceuticals shortly before demolition
By October 2024 a new detailed planning application had been put forward for Plots 1 and 3 which are designed to accommodate a primary space (suitable for storage or research and development and manufacturing), alongside ancillary office floor space. Plot 1 has a floor area of 1,260 m² and Plot 3 has a floor area of 3,266 m².
The application is currently with Swale Borough Council awaiting a decision.
Detail of application for Plots 1 and 3, plot 2 now demolished
Interestingly there is a condition on Plot 2 stipulating that the building shall not be occupied by any other user than GW Pharmaceuticals without additional car parking provision agreed and approved in writing as GW Pharmaceuticals had previously demonstrated low operational car parking requirements.
The new application was evidently prepared without knowledge of the demolition of the building on Plot 2 and therefore doesn’t accommodate for any additional parking and given that the frame has been dismantled I would expect that an entirely new detailed application will be forthcoming at some point in the future.
Proposed Plots 1 and 3 for the current planning application
Overall, this is a very sorry tale, 15 years on from the
initial planning approval and all that the Kent Science Park have to show for
it is some earthworks, a partially complete road and some rubble.
Not a single new job, outside of the construction workers has been created in
the context of the scheme, although the park does claim that it has created
more than 500 jobs that this scheme was projected to create and all within the
existing site in buildings, which it had previously claimed were not capable of accommodating
any more employees.
The real question that everyone should now be asking is that, if in 15 years
the park has been unable to expand by a mere 4 hectares, what possible chance
has it of delivering on a 32.15 ha expansion in additional to the 4 hectares?
Andy Hudson
Sittingbourne.Me