UK-based property developer Weston Homes has purchased former Wellcome Pharmaceutical Factory in Dartford, Kent, to convert it into an £80m garden village.
Weston Homes acquired the 7.59-acre Mill Ponds site from Delancey Estates and will redevelop it into a mixed-use, waterside village with 400 homes.
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The latest development will offer one and two-bedroom apartments as well as two and three-bedroom houses, and will also feature a village pond and local high street.
The development will provide 28,567ft² of commercial space and 268,990ft² of residential accommodation.
Pheonix Paper Mill, which was built in 1852, previously occupied the Mill Ponds site and was replaced in 1889 by the Wellcome Pharmaceutical Factory.
Weston Homes chairman and managing director Bob Weston told insider media: "Our new £80m garden village will transform surplus industrial land and bring it back to use as high-quality residential housing and commercial premises.
"The Mill Pond and river setting will provide attractive waterfeatures for the adjoining homes and the leafy garden suburb inspired design will create a highly attractive place to live."
Weston Homes’ acquisition is said to be part of its ongoing £1bn expansion programme and is set to double the company’s size in the coming years.
The transformed Mill Ponds and adjacent Northern Gateway sites are expected to offer a new urban centre to the south-east, encompassing more than 1,000 new homes, with both retail and commercial space of around 53,820ft².
