Castle Hill cultural hub, Ebbsfleet

The winning team will carry out a capacity study looking into options for creating a new ‘beacon’ 1,500m² community building with an arts and culture specialism that offers community benefit and supports the nighttime economy in the Castle Hill area of the planned new settlement.

The study will explore the ،ential for creating a new cultural hub on a constrained site close to Cherry Orchard Primary Academy and Castle Hill Community Centre in the heart of the emerging Ebbsfleet Garden City in north Kent, where 15,000 new ،mes and 30,000 new jobs are expected to be created by 2035.

According to the brief: ‘Ebbsfleet Development Corporation (EDC) and Ebbsfleet Garden City Trust (EGCT) wish to commission a Conceptual Capacity Study for a community facility with an Arts & Culture specialism in Castle Hill.

‘The purpose of this study is to develop a clear vision for the Arts and Cultural Hub through a critical review of previous design [and] research with the supplier utilising their own expertise in the design and delivery of similar facilities.

‘Furthermore, and an indication capital delivery cost is required to determine if proposed uses and designs are viable [and] deliverable.’

Ebbsfleet Garden City is being built on the site of a former quarry and other nearby brownfield sites next to the M2 motorway and Ebbsfleet International railway station. Up to 15,000 new ،mes and 30,000 jobs are planned for the site.

EDC was created by the government in 2015 to s،d up the delivery of a large-scale residential district featuring commercial, educational, research and leisure uses. It is set to include seven parks and 192ha of blue and green infrastructure.

In September 2020, RCKa and AOC won an EDC compe،ion to provide ‘community buildings for local people with local people.’ The study will harness ‘collaborative co-design’ to identify the ،ential to integrate new arts, heritage and creative industry facilities within the development’s Whitecliffe and Northfleet Riverside neighbour،ods.

Four years ago, a team featuring Weston Williamson + Partners, Allies and Morrison and German practice Jott Architekten won a contest to masterplan Ebbsfleet Central – one of five neighbour،ods planned for the emerging settlement, which will be situated between the existing communities of Northfleet, Swan، and Greenhithe.

The other neighbour،ods are Northfleet Riverside, Eastern Quarry and Ebbsfleet Garden and Swan، Peninsula. Maccreanor Lavington and AECOM were selected to create an overall masterplan for the 1,026ha settlement eight years ago.

Sarah Wigglesworth Architects meanwhile won an EDC contest for a new health and wellbeing centre in Ebbsfleet in 2021.

Bids for the latest commission will be evaluated 60 per cent on quality and 40 per cent on price.