Companies look to Kent Medical Campus as Enterprise Zone status dawns

10th March 2017

Despite the Chancellor of the Exchequer seeking to defuse the furore over the proposed Business Rates re-evaluation with the announcement of measures to minimise the impact on small businesses, many larger firms are waking up to the prospect of what they will have to pay when the new regime comes in on 1 April, 2017.

Coinciding with the start of the Business Rates changes, Kent Medical Campus will become an Enterprise Zone, a Government-supported designation designed to stimulate business growth and the creation of new jobs.

As a result, new companies moving to Kent Medical Campus, which has planning permission to develop 1,000,000ft² of space to accommodate academic health and science related uses, will be eligible for significant business rate discounts.

 The Government will support rates discounts of up to £55,000 per year for five years for companies that locate within an Enterprise Zone by 31 March 2022.

Gary Watson, Director at JLL, the company advising Kent Medical Campus on property matters, said: “The business rate rise is one that will impact a disproportionate number of businesses in the South East, where property values have risen since the last rates re-evaluation in 2008.

“We have seen a significant rise in interest from businesses who are aware of our overall offer, and eager to understand how they can take advantage of it.”

The team at Kent Medical Campus is currently evaluating proposals to bring forward an innovation hub, with commercial premises designed to support a cluster of high-growth health and science-focused businesses, at the campus just off Junction 7 of the M20 at Maidstone.

Already home to KIMS Hospital, construction is also under way on a 64-bed hospital for Cygnet Health Care, one of the UK’s largest independent providers of mental health support, following a £1.5m investment in a new link road.

Kent Medical Campus is part of the North Kent Enterprise Zone, which also includes Rochester Airport Technology Park, and a number of sites within Ebbsfleet Garden City.

For information on Kent Medical Campus and its Enterprise Zone status visit www.kentmedicalcampus.com