Crest Nicholson PLC, with green living specialists BioRegional Quintain Ltd, have been selected as the preferred developer for the first 600 homes on flagship regeneration site Rochester Riverside.

They were chosen from a shortlist of four developers by landowners and project partners Medway Council and the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA). Selection is subject to ratification by Medway Council in January 2008.

Crest Nicholson plan 600 high quality homes on the seven-hectare site as well as parks, shops, offices and cafes to provide a sustainable mixed-use community with strong links to the historic centre of Rochester.

Estimated construction cost for this first phase of residential development is £108 million.

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The buildings will be of the highest sustainability standards including some at Code of Sustainable Homes Level 6 (the Government's highest rating). Using the ten One Planet Living principles developed by BioRegional and WWF-International, Crest Nicholson and BioRegional Quintain aim to make sustainable living attractive and affordable, as well as easy to understand and implement.

Striking images of the first residential quarter, prepared by architects HTA, are attached. Crest Nicholson will be working with the project partners to agree detailed design during 2008 with anticipated construction starting in 2009.

Affordable housing, a quarter of the total, will be provided and managed by registered social housing landlord Hyde Housing Group.

Rochester Riverside is one of the biggest and busiest brownfield regeneration sites in the Thames Gateway. Preparatory engineering works costing over £32 million and funded by Communities & Local Government, are nearly complete with 30 hectares of land cleared and flood-defended to make way for a stunning regeneration project. The works have included a new 2.5 kilometre river wall and two new creeks. The site has been raised by up to two metres using material dredged from the River Thames and brought in by the River Medway.

Over £80million of public investment has gone into land assembly, site clearance and flood defences.

(JM)