Regeneration potential for Kingston Wharf, East Cowes

A former aggregates site and wharf which has been marketed for a couple of years but without significant resulting interest is to be redeveloped as a marine focused industrial estate.

Cowes Harbour Commission (CHC) has had a harbour workshop at the Kingston Wharf site in East Cowes since 2000, then leased and developed the boatyard operation in 2004 and acquired the site and wharf in 2012. The 10-acre waterfront marine employment site is home to the Cowes Harbour services boatyard, commercial marine operations, and self-storage facility, as well as a number of onsite independent business tenants.

CHC says it has been considering strategically beneficial opportunities for further developing the potential of the site with its all-tide deep-water access and wharfage.

An outline plan has been created, CHC says, that maximises the potential of the site in terms of new development. The design allows for a larger hoist to be accommodated, should this be required in the future. Although outline at this stage, the development would create additional commercial units, with seven starter units on the upper terrace and four larger units on the lower terrace. It works to help answer the strategic shortage of marine based industrial accommodation on both sides of the River Medina and in the Solent region.

The initial phased development is likely to be driven by the new income revenue that can be achieved by expanding the boat storage facilities onto the lower terrace and utilising the two wharves for larger vessels and the potential addition of pontoons. There is also capacity to increase the size and number of boats that can be lifted by investing in an additional hoist for small vessels and in time increasing the size of the current hoist, says CHC.

CHC believes this is the right time to make this commitment, and seek outline planning, to regenerate Kingston Wharf, for the benefit of the whole River Medina and port of Cowes.