On behalf of its partners Medway Council and Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, the University’s Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries (iCCi) has announced the development of an innovative new creative space for Medway.
With construction planned for 2024, the development will result in the conversion of the Homes England-owned Police Section House – a Grade II listed Scheduled Ancient Monument at The Historic Dockyard – into a new 21st Century creative industries’ accelerator space known as The Docking Station. This new development will become a high-quality international creative digital hub that provides cutting edge technologies, performance and training opportunities.
The Docking Station will place creative and cultural industries at the heart of the regeneration plans for the last remaining undeveloped part of the former Dockyard site. Its facilities will include a community café and social spaces, gallery and exhibition spaces, workshops, flexible teaching areas, a state-of-the-art immersive digital interactive space and start-up/accelerator zone
A key project within Creative Estuary’s four-year programme to transform 60 miles of the Thames Estuary across Essex and Kent into one of the most exciting cultural hubs in the world, The Docking Station project is supported by Cultural Development Fund investment from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
Professor Catherine Richardson, Director of iCCi, said: ‘We are very excited to be moving to the next phase of this important project. The imaginative new spaces that the building will offer for working, learning and creating are central to the distinctive kinds of work we do at iCCi, and they will be crucial to our region’s post-Covid economic, social and cultural recovery. Docking Station will give the partners and their communities a beacon building from which to create our collective futures.
The Docking Station will provide creative businesses and young people from existing and new communities across the region with the co-working and creative spaces they will need in a post-Covid-19 environment; stimulate and inspire collaboration between future generations of digital entrepreneurs and creatives; facilitate greater industry engagement and educational opportunities; and enhance Medway’s strategic repositioning as a Creative City.
The Council, Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust and University see The Docking Station as a key opportunity to support the delivery of Medway’s new Cultural Strategy, which sets out the area’s vision to develop and improve its cultural offer, as well as provide more opportunities for Medway’s residents. The ambitious 10-year strategy also sets out Medway’s aim to be nationally and internationally recognised for the area’s creativity and culture, including its ambition to become UK City of Culture in 2025.