The latest residential development at Chatham Waters will also include an on-site bistro café, hair salon, cinema, and sensory rooftop garden.

Construction has started on building an innovatively designed, 75-bed care home, that will also offer specialist on-site dementia care at Chatham Waters in Medway, Kent.

The start on site follows on from a series of recent construction milestones at Chatham Waters including the completion of 237-apartments available for shared ownership and affordable rent, and the completion of a stunning new linear park with natural play areas, connecting the waterside district up to the River Medway.

The 75-bed care home will be delivered in partnership by specialist healthcare developer Montpelier Estates, contractors Apex Contractors Ltd and waterside regeneration specialists Peel Waters who are designing and delivering the wider Chatham Waters district.

The purpose-built, four-storey care home sits in the centre of Chatham Waters and will have on-site facilities to encourage socialising and community building within a comfortable, safe, and supportive space for later living. A dementia friendly bistro café, hair salon, cinema, and sensory rooftop garden for residents to enjoy and relax in will all be built within the development.

There will also be plenty of spaces within the development for community events, relaxation and exercise to look after the mental and physical wellness of future residents. Montpelier Estates will be actively engaging with the local community to hold activities within the home, including cinema screenings, cooking demonstrations, musical events and school visits, with a hope to further stimulate residents’ interest and help prolong life.

The Waterfront UTC which has over 300 students studying engineering and construction on site at Chatham Waters will play an important role in supplying a pipeline of highly skilled new workers. Apex have already started engaging with the University Technical College with a Social Value Plan in place to offer a hugely beneficial T-Level placement for a local student during the build of the care home.

Montpelier Estates will also be looking to partner with local creatives, artists and makers on the interior design and fit-out of the residential development, more details of this will be announced later in the build programme.

Located just 1.4 miles away from The Medway Maritime Hospital, it is hoped the new home at Chatham Waters will also be able to address the crisis in step-up and step-down care accommodation. The home is uniquely positioned to provide bespoke accommodation and services which cannot be replicated in existing homes within Medway, offering a more suitable location to rehabilitate patients ready to be discharged and reducing issues of “bed blocking” within the NHS.

The care home forms a key part of Peel Waters’ wider vision and plans for their Chatham Waters neighbourhood. More than £150million has already been invested into Chatham Waters by Peel as part of their ambitious regeneration of the former industrial site. Improved infrastructure, a large ASDA Superstore, a Marston’s family pub and restaurant and the Waterfront UTC, have all been delivered within the waterside neighbourhood, in addition to over 600 new mixed-tenure homes. The recently completed linear park that sits next to the new care home development has added to the existing green spaces, the dock gardens and the waterfront promenade, bringing the total of public realm created by Peel Waters within Chatham Waters to over 3.5 acres.

James Whittaker, Managing Director of Peel Waters said: “It is fantastic to see even more development in such quick succession of each other taking place at Chatham Waters, bringing much needed, quality, mixed tenure homes to Medway.

“We’re committed to creating a community for everyone at Chatham Waters. The level of thought and attention to detail within this specialist development to promote social inclusion, multi-generational friendships and community building is excellent and we’re proud to be working in partnership with Montpelier Estates and Apex to bring this high-quality offering to Chatham Waters.

“This new development will bring with it a pipeline of new jobs, apprenticeships, and opportunities for our community. Construction and engineering students at the onsite Waterfront UTC will be able to work on live projects, gaining valuable skills and experience; whilst on completion the home will be recruiting for a variety of operational and care roles. It is a really exciting time for Chatham Waters and we are proud to be working with our partners to deliver these large-scale, transformational, waterside developments across our Peel Waters portfolio.”

Anna Ciesielska, Director of Montpelier Estates said: “We are delighted to be embarking on our second care home project with Peel Waters. Designing and bringing the care home to this stage of construction has been a joy; everyone involved in the process have contributed selflessly. We can now deliver a care home for the elderly residents of Chatham in a stunning setting, benefitting from all of the surrounding facilities provided by Peel, offering first class care and the opportunity to enjoy the lifestyle on offer.”

Dan Hollis, Managing Director of Apex also added: “As a Kent-based contractor, we are thrilled to be working on the prolific Chatham Waters development, bringing much-needed care spaces to Medway through the construction of the new care home. Our team are excited to not only deliver a state-of-the-art facility, but to engage with the local community, fostering connections, offering insights into the construction process, and providing work experience opportunities. We look forward to working closely with Montpelier Estates and Peel Waters to bring this vision to life and make a positive impact on the lives of future residents.”

The estimated build time of the Chatham Waters care home will be approximately 18-months, with completion expected by autumn 2026.