Weston buys Dartford factory for €102m redevelopment

UK house builder Weston Homes has acquired the 3-hectare Mill Ponds site near Dartford Town Centre in the UK for an undisclosed amount.

The area will be transformed into an £80 mln (€102 mln) mixed-use, 400-home waterside ‘Garden Village’ located by Dartford Railway Station.

Once complete in 2018 the scheme will feature a large village pond and local high street providing 2,700 m2 of retail and commercial space, plus 24,900 m2 of residential accommodation.

The Mill Ponds site was once occupied by the Phoenix Paper Mill, built in 1852, with a large mill pond created to help power the facility. This was replaced in 1889 by the Wellcome Pharmaceutical Factory founded by Henry Wellcome and Silas Burroughs.

Initially the factory produced Cod Liver Oil, Malt and Saccharin and supplied medicine chests to explorers, aviators and members of the Royal family. After WWII the company opened newer plants on other sites, resulting in the closure of the Dartford factory in 2008 by its then owners GlaxoSmithKline. Plans to regenerate the former factory’s brownfield land Mill Ponds and neighbouring Northern Gateway sites begun in 2010, with a plan created for the entire 33 acre facility devised by masterplanner Delancey.

Bob Weston, chairman & managing director of Weston Homes said: 'The Mill Pond and river setting will be ideal for families and executives wanting a home within the M25 providing easy commuting into central London.'

The acquisition of the Mill Ponds site is part of Weston Homes ongoing £1 bn expansion programme which is set to double the size of the company over the next four-five years. In 2014 Weston Homes was provided a £100 mln amendment and extension to its existing funding facility (up to 2018) by HSBC and Lloyds which was used to acquire several sites including the Mill Ponds site.

Construction will begin on site in summer 2015, with anticipated first occupations and build completion in autumn 2016.