Health and Community

Mote Park is a 450 acre park in the centre of Maidstone, Kent that offers woodland, a 30 acre lake, play areas and even a model railway. The park is incredibly popular with locals and tourists and events and festivals are held there through the year.

The park featured a café building that had become dated and not fit for the number of visitors wanting to use it. Maidstone Borough Council, who run the park, set out to develop a modern and flexible community space that was not only a café, but offered further facilities than its predecessor. The existing buildings were demolished and temporary facilities provided to allow food and drink services to continue running during construction.

Designed to be robust, two new buildings were delivered via steel frame construction with zinc roof and timber cladding. With partial possession, the client’s catering tenant was able to access the café and instruct their fit out contractors to complete the delivery of the commercial kitchen. The cafe provides 50 covers and has created 8 new jobs for local people.

This project won a LABC South East Building Excellence Award for Best Public / Community Building in 2023.