Alkerden Hub

Alkerden Hub is a modern civic landmark, designed to anchor the emerging Alkerden Market Centre with a bold yet contextual presence. Drawing from the local chalk quarrying and cement works, the architecture references the site’s industrial heritage through robust materials and a carefully modelled massing strategy. A palette of pale brick and ribbed green terracotta evokes the textures of nearby chalk cliffs and green escarpments. A varied roofline defines three distinct but connected volumes: the Health Centre, Lifelong Learning Centre and Hall. These are unified by a coherent façade rhythm.

The building’s layout embodies a ‘long-life, loose-fit’ principle, accommodating a wide range of public uses today and in the future. Internally, the plan promotes accessibility and openness. Key civic functions, including a GP surgery, community café, library and co-working spaces, are located on the ground floor to ensure visibility and ease of access. A flexible multi-purpose hall is positioned centrally with strong visual and physical links to public realm. Sustainable design is embedded throughout, with natural ventilation, air-source heat pumps and green roofs supporting BREEAM Excellent targets. The result is a responsive, resilient piece of civic architecture rooted in place.

The development of the Hub was grounded in extensive engagement with the community and key stakeholders. Working with Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, Kent & Medway Integrated Care Board and Ebbsfleet Garden City Trust, the HTA team led a collaborative process to shape a building that would reflect local needs and aspirations. Early consultations explored how community services could co-locate without compromising on flexibility, privacy or accessibility, particularly around health and lifelong learning.

To support public understanding, a dedicated consultation website and series of events invited feedback through surveys, webinars and in-person exhibitions. This feedback directly influenced changes to layout, access and programming, such as improving the prominence of the café, enhancing public realm at the Fastrack edge and refining interior circulation to support safe, inclusive movement throughout.

By embedding the project in its social context from the outset, the team helped ensure that the Hub not only meets functional needs but resonates with the local community as a shared civic asset.

The interiors of Alkerden Hub continue the building’s strong contextual narrative, blending warmth and tactility with clarity and flexibility. Inspired by the chalk and flora of Ebbsfleet’s landscape, the palette is subtle and natural: soft whites and earthy greens balanced with textured tiles, ribbed surfaces and gently reliefed finishes. These tactile elements bring visual richness while supporting intuitive navigation and a sense of calm throughout the building.

Close collaboration between the architecture and interiors teams ensured seamless transitions between exterior and interior material languages. Key spaces, such as the main hall and library, are given character through bold but considered design moments, from bespoke panelling and coffered ceilings to careful lighting design that supports everything from public events to quiet reading. Spaces for adult learning and early years education have been designed with inclusivity in mind, including accessible worktops and Changing Places facilities.

Stakeholder consultation shaped the brief, and collaboration with a local artist has contributed to a permanent public artwork in the entrance space. The result is a series of interiors that feel civic yet inviting. Practical for service delivery, but always with people at their heart.

Wayfinding design for Alkerden Hub forms a vital part of its civic identity and inclusive ethos. Developed alongside the architectural and interiors teams, the visual language draws from the natural materials of the Ebbsfleet landscape. A system of textures and soft tones is used to subtly reference the chalk cliffs and quarry stones, creating a coherent identity that ties together signage, finishes and layout logic.

Each floor is given a distinct colour scheme to aid navigation and reinforce the layered uses within the Hub. Tactile and visual cues, including textured directories, wall graphics and external fingerpost signage, were carefully planned to support users of all ages and abilities. From lift lobbies to corridors, the wayfinding is clear, consistent and dignified, improving accessibility while enhancing the building’s personality.