Fitted Rigging House
- Capital Investment - Kent & Medway, Growing Places Fund, Less than £2m
Approval Status
Fully Approved
Delivery Status
GPF Project Delivered
Expected Repayment Date
Spring 2026
The Fit
ted Rigging House Project converts a large Grade 1 former industrial building, at the Chatham Historic Dockyard, into office and public benefit space. The project is expected to create 3,473 sqm of new office space, which will house businesses offering up to 350 jobs. The project will also free up space to create a postgraduate study facility elsewhere onsite for the University of Kent’s Business School.
Project update
This project was considered by Accountability Board on 7th June 2019, with the Board approving a proposed reduction in the GPF funding allocation to the project. The conversion of the Fitted Rigging House is nearing completion and has created 3 large tenant spaces, 5 small business units, a new office for the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust and a new library, archive and volunteer centre. The first three tenants have taken occupation of the building, creating a total of 150 jobs. It is expected that the Fitted Rigging House will be fully occupied by October 2019. The conversion will be delivered at a lower cost than anticipated. As a result, the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust have confirmed that the full initial GPF allocation of £800,000 is no longer required. A reduced GPF allocation of £550,000, which has been already been invested in the project, was proposed and subsequently approved by the Board. As the project is at an advanced stage and is nearing completion, the reduction in GPF allocation will not impact on the scope of the project or the outcomes and benefits offered by it.
Capital Programme delivery update
Take a look at our update on the delivery of the Local Growth Fund (LGF) and Growing Places Fund (GPF) capital programmes.
Growing Places Fund
The Growing Places Fund (GPF) was established by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (formerly the Department for Communities and Local Government) and the Department for Transport (DfT) in 2011. The aim of this funding is to unlock economic growth, create jobs and ‘kick-start’ house building at stalled development sites.