Investment and Regeneration | design champion before he became design champion for the Thames Gateway as a whole. In his report Five Towns Make a City, he says Medway has a Òonce-in-a-generation opportunityÓ to transform itself through the redevelopment of spectacular sites along seven miles of waterfront. On Rochester Riverside, one of the GatewayÕs most striking regeneration sites, Crest Nicholson and green-living specialists Bioregional Quintain have been selected to build the first phase of 2,000 homes. ChathamÕs waterfront, which looks across the River Medway to RochesterÕs castle and cathedral, is also seen as having vast potential for redevelopment. MedwayÕs new city Chatham is seen as MedwayÕs future city centre. Home to four universities and 10,000 students - an important source of skills for the years of economic growth ahead - major infrastructure work is underway in Chatham. ChathamÕs biggest eyesore, the Sir John Hawkins Flyover, is being demolished and the road system is being remodelled, boosting traffic flow and freeing up the town centre and the waterfront for massive private and public sector investment. Alongside major plans for the future ChathamÕs history is being preserved; a World Heritage Site bid is being prepared for Chatham Historic Dockyard and its Napoleonic defences. Other key sites and developments: ¥ 70-acre Temple Waterfront, where Lafarge Cement UK has submitted plans for 600 homes in a £100m scheme ¥ Strood Riverside ¥ Gillingham Waterfront, where Berkeley First is creating Victory Pier ¥ Former Ministry of Defence land at Chattenden, where Land Securities plan to build 5,000 new homes ¥ Medway Park - a regional centre of sporting excellence - is being created as the centrepiece of the areaÕs links with the 2012 Olympics. High-tech and high-speed The regeneration in Medway is already attracting businesses. Start-ups and high-tech companies are signing up for Ôphase twoÕ of Innovation Centre Medway (ICM2) - a partnership between BAE Systems, Medway Council, Royal Bank of Scotland and Kent and Greenwich universities. Facilities include office space, conference rooms and a secure data centre. Medway is also set to benefit from new high-speed rail services. From December 2009, Medway will be boosted by the start of High Speed 1 commuter trains. Two trains an hour will serve Chatham, Rochester and Strood, cutting journey times to London to as little as 33 minutes. Medway has a strong reputation for delivery. Now the ambition is to turn Medway into a successful river city of 300,000 people at the heart of the Thames Gateway. Tel. 01634 337154 www.medwayrenaissance.com