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Opening in 2025, Docking Station will harness the transformative power of creative technology to open up new possibilities and futures for young people and the communities of Kent and Medway.
iCCi and University of Kent are developing the Docking Station, in partnership with Medway Council and the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust.
Docking Station will restore and regenerate the Police Section House, a derelict Scheduled Ancient Monument into a unique creative facility.
This £15M regeneration project will deliver a world-leading centre of creative digital production, education and community engagement. It will create a new public realm, boost civic pride, drive economic development as well as Medway’s levelling-up priorities and bring world class digital opportunities to the region.
Multi-award winning architectural practice specialising in sustainability, heritage architecture, and placemaking, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios are working with us to create a unique, purpose-built facility, and to restore the Police Section House to become a cultural landmark for Medway.
Docking Station will offer state-of-the-art digital production studios including LED volume, motion capture, volumetric capture and photogrammetry for students, businesses, and local people. There will be flexible teaching spaces, co-working areas, performance and exhibition spaces all woven into a programme of public events and community engagement. It will be a new bridge between academia, industry and the community.
The Docking Station aims to put Medway at the forefront of research and innovation into digital immersive experiences.
We are delighted to have already received significant public funding from Arts Council England Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport; Department of Levelling Up Housing and Communities; and National Lottery Heritage Fund. We are now reaching out to our supporters, partners, business networks and communities to close the funding gap and bring the full vision for Docking Station to life.
There are a number of ways to support this project from naming opportunities, capital gifts and legacies, support for the outreach and education programmes through to scholarships and corporate partnerships.
Every gift will make a difference.
Creative Estuary and Medway Council funding has kick-started project development by enabling the completion of feasibility studies which has paved the way for further investment.
Medway Council have secured a £5.6 million share of the Government’s Levelling Up Fund for the project and iCCi has secured £3.5 million from the Cultural Development Fund via Arts Council England. The project is also supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The Docking Station Project is formally overseen by the iCCi Board. We are currently establishing a Creative Technology Development Board that will report to iCCi Board, to help shape project delivery and embed future technologies across our work, with representatives from industry and education including the BFI, Creative UK, Dovetail Games, Screen South and The Backstage Centre.
