HLM Architects’ vision for the community centres around lifestyle improvements and comprises a vibrant, sustainable masterplan that integrates residential, commercial, and recreational spaces. Regeneration of the area and revitalising brownfield land will create about 3000 new jobs, providing homes and improving connections and amenities for the communities of Northfleet and Gravesham. 

About 50 acres in size, the site is centred on the delivery of a new 8000-people stadium for lower-league Ebbsfleet United Football Club, alongside 3500 new homes – both private and affordable housing. Other aspects include public parks and green spaces, a hotel, and 150,000 sq ft of commercial office space.

HLM Architects worked with UN Studios and C&W Architects on the masterplan for Northfleet Harbourside Development Company. The design philosophy seeks to create a new pedestrian-focused destination combining a mix of cultural, commercial, and community-oriented environments close to the River Thames and the historic Northfleet Harbour.

John Richards, head of masterplanning and urban design at HLM, hailed the outline planning permission as a key milestone, ensuring “a future of prosperity for Northfleet” and providing the platform for “a range of exciting spatial solutions to deliver this vision to revitalise the community environment”.

Following the granting of outline planning consent, Northfleet Harbourside Development Company will begin working with Gravesham Borough Council to develop more detailed plans for each phase of the scheme.

HLM director Richard O'Neil also commented on the achievement, describing the regeneration as marking “a new era of opportunity for the community of Northfleet and Gravesend: a sustainable, community-led development, which can deliver socio-economic prosperity for generations to come”.

He added: “Northfleet Harbourside, Ebbsfleet FC and Gravesham Borough Council should be congratulated for their desire to bring innovation and aspiration to this important riverside location.”