Thames Gateway Kent
At the heart of the Thames Gateway Kent Diamond is Medway, consisting of the towns of Chatham, Gillingham, Rainham, Rochester and Strood, with a large rural area and a population of over 250,000. The Diamond area itself stretches to include parts of adjoining Swale, Gravesham and Dartford.
The information on this page is currently being revised to reflect the wider scale and impact of the Diamond.
Medway has seen the eighth fastest rate of job growth of all urban areas in the country over the past 10 years. Conveniently located only 35 miles from central London, Medway benefits from comprehensive transport links with Europe and the UK. Medway has ready access to the M2, M20 and M25, the High Speed 2 Rail Link for domestic services from 2009 and a trans-global seaport.
Medway is the largest centre for business in Kent, and home to over 13,000 businesses including several major international companies.
The area’s key business sectors are:
- Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering - around 900 manufacturing and engineering companies in Medway including BAE Systems, Delphi Diesel Systems, and the new Medway Innovation Centre
- Medical Instrumentation - cluster includes Micro Medical Ltd and Bedfont Scientific
- Finance and Business Services - RBS, HBOS, Lloyds of London, and Lloyds TSB
- Energy and Environmental Technologies - E-On and Scottish Power
- Creative Industries - more than 1,000 creative businesses registered in the Medway Diamond
- Retail and Leisure – important sub-regional centre with major expansion planned, and strong heritage offer
- Ports and logistics – Medway’s combined port activities make it the 9th largest port in the UK by volume and includes Thamesport container port and Chatham port
Medway is also a key part of the Thames Gateway regeneration programme, from which it has received over £150m of government
investment, which is forecast to unlock over £6bn of private sector investment over the next decade. Crest Nicholson have been
selected as the developer for the prestigious Rochester Riverside development, and Chatham will be transformed into a new city centre
for Medway, with hotels, offices, cultural facilities and a retail offer second only to Bluewater in Kent.
Medway’s Diamond has benefited and will benefit from major infrastructure improvements to the motorway network, and the new
Channel Tunnel Rail Link – Domestic services beginning in December 2009, giving a 30min travelling time from Chatham to central
London
It now hosts four Higher Education Institutions with around 9,000 students, mainly in the unique Universities at Medway campus in
Chatham Maritime: It includes the University of Kent; University of Greenwich; Canterbury Christ Church University College (Chatham); and at Rochester, the University College for the Creative Arts.
There is also the largest FE College in the Thames Gateway – Mid Kent College, soon to move to a new £75m campus in Gillingham
The Diamond area includes the towns of Chatham, Gillingham, Rainham and Strood, and the historic City of Rochester, and sites on top
of the North Downs – an area of outstanding natural beauty.
