Benefits of the proposals
Meeting residential need
Tonbridge and Malling has a current Government-set target of building 1,097 new homes a year across the Borough – and it is not meeting that target. The new Local Plan that is currently being drawn up will need to accommodate a further 19,746 homes by 2042.
These figures are hard to achieve and are putting pressure on the Green Belt and large areas of open countryside.
Redeveloping the five redundant buildings at Kings Hill would deliver up to 260 new homes on a brownfield location in the heart of an established community with all necessary infrastructure – roads, water, power, community facilities, etc – in place.
The numbers are subject to change as part of the design development process that Praxis is currently going through. All the sites are identified by the Council for residential redevelopment and are allocated under policy A1 of the Regulation 18 Local Plan.
The planning applications will:
Meet residential need
Sustain employment
Be consistent with planning policy
Sustaining employment
Our strategy is to focus the office employment space in the buildings along Kings Hill Avenue. Between them, the offices that we wish to retain offer 285,000 sq ft of space, of which 204,000 sq ft is occupied.
Existing and anticipated occupier demand, means we envisage nine office buildings will be retained, totalling 284,712 sq ft and comprising the following:
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30 Tower View
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6 Alexander Grove
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4 Abbey Wood Road
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2, 10, 17, 18, 35 and 39 Kings Hill Avenue
A major programme to upgrade office buildings at Kings Hill is underway at the Kent-based business park. Work has started on a £6.75m programme of refurbishment and renovation to upgrade three of Praxis’ 14 office buildings, to provide business space that will help companies encourage their teams back to the office, rather than work from home.
A total of 106,000 sq ft of existing offices will be degassed, with new electric air conditioning and ventilation installed in refurbished areas and zoned to provide a variety of different sized office units.
To meet the demand for flexible business accommodation, the buildings at 10 and 35 Kings Hill Avenue and 30 Tower View are being refurbished to provide Cat A quality office space with units ranging from 2,000 to 16,000 sq ft.
We are confident that the proposed refurbishment work paid for by the new housing will result in the remaining 76,000 sq ft being filled, creating new jobs for residents. The work undertaken at 10 Kings Hill Avenue, for example, has already resulted in one unit (4,600 sq ft) being let, and a further 14,600 sq ft Under Offer. Relocating the three tenants in the buildings earmarked for demolition will result in further space being taken.
Consistent with planning policy
Praxis put forward the buildings proposed for redevelopment as part of Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council’s ‘Call for sites’, which is part of the process of developing the authority’s new Local Plan.
Our submissions showed there is no tenant interest in the vacant offices and that rental levels do not justify an office refurbishment scheme. The buildings are effectively unviable as office accommodation, have been mothballed and are a potential blight on Kings Hill.
However, while this area is oversupplied with office space, it has a shortage of housing. If the office supply can be corrected through the residential redevelopment of surplus office buildings, this will have a positive effect on the whole of Kings Hill and reduce the pressure to put new homes on greenfield sites elsewhere in the Borough.
All sites have been identified in Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council's emerging regulation 18 Local Plan for residential redevelopment within their development allocations policy.