Massive investment in infrastructure will bring the site within a 15-minute rail journey of London's new international rail terminal at St. Pancras, and the UK government is committed to promoting development in the Thames Gateway as a counterweight to the overcrowded Thames Valley west of the city.

Land Securities' masterplan, drawn up by Eric Kuhne Associates, breaks the holdings into five sites. The Crossways site beside the QEII Bridge over the Thames at Dartford is now nearing completion, with 2.35 million sf of office and industrial space built, and sites available for another 500,000 sf of offices and 540,000 sf of industrial space.

The most valuable of the four remaining sites is the Ebbsfleet site itself, where consent has been granted for 8.5 million sf of residential, office, retail, leisure and community uses. Land Securities Development director Tim Seddon says delivery depends on the completion date of the rail terminal itself--which is expected in 2007. But the southern part of the site, at Springhead, could be developed earlier with 550,000 sf of commercial space and 600 residential units.