Folkestone & Hythe District Council bought the former Ship Street gasworks site in 2021 and is committed to bringing it back into use as a high-quality, housing-led development.
This follows a series of studies and public engagement events focusing on the brownfield land, parts of which have been left derelict since as far back as 1956.
Brownfield Land Release Fund
The project received a £2.5m boost from central government through the Brownfield Land Release Fund in October 2023.
This money will go towards the remediation of the site.
Public engagement
An event was held at the Quarterhouse in March 2022, giving residents an opportunity to share their views. A further session took place in March 2023.
The feedback received helped to inform the project brief and outline the broad expectations for the scheme. These included:
- The site should prioritise high quality houses and flats
- Buildings should be low emitters of carbon, energy efficient and economical to heat and cool
- The scheme should include affordable homes to rent and buy
- The scheme should have shared public amenity and creative space – and improve the look of the area.
Site history
The former gasworks site has a rich historic past but has sadly become an eyesore since it was left derelict.
Part of it ceased to be used in 1956, though it continued to be used for gas storage until the 1970s. A social club also operated there.
A large-scale remediation of the site took place between 2009 and 2011, when Southern Gas sought to sell it.
Folkestone & Hythe District Council included it in a list of sites for housing development in 2015 to encourage the market. No offers were made.
Given the lack of interest from the private sector, Folkestone & Hythe District Council bought the site in 2021 with the aim to drive development.
Creative Folkestone
We greatly value the contribution of Creative Folkestone in supporting the development of the project for Ship Street.
Creative Folkestone has a proven track record of applying art, cultural activity and creativity as a sustainable driver of urban regeneration.
We seek to utilise that expertise and drive to place creativity at the heart of the project brief for the housing-led design development of the site.