With hardly an intact window in sight and a thick layer of grime building on the exterior – with things no better on the inside – we could easily be looking at a movie set for a zombie apocalypse film.
The former maternity unit – known as M-Block – in Bath Street, Gravesend, has been a target for vandals and urban explorers ever since it closed down in 2006.
Previous plans to turn M-Block into 113 flats fell through last year. Picture: RPRS/Rightmove
And now, with the redevelopment of the land stalled by lapsed planning permission, the building has gone up for sale – knocking back any hopes of a swift turnaround in the process.
A stone’s throw from the River Thames, countless mothers will have held their children for the first time in this hospital, before it was made redundant by the opening of Darent Valley Hospital.
The only signs of life now are the moss growing on the roof and a shabby collection of graffiti spread across its seven floors.
Previous plans to turn M-Block into 113 flats fell through last year. Picture: RPRS/Rightmove
Ceiling panels have been torn down, and anything of value stripped from their fixings a long time ago. It is now a concrete shell.
Gravesend and North Kent Hospital shut in 2004, with the maternity unit following suit two years later.
The Gravesham Community Hospital was built to occupy the majority of the plot, though M-Block’s acre of land was never included – creating a bizarre exclusion zone that dominates the skyline.
Anything of value has long been stripped from the building. Picture: RPRS/Rightmove
It took the NHS 12 years to sell it – attaining a fee of £2.3 million in 2018 – and plans soon came forward to turn the building into flats.
Initially, the building was to be demolished, but in 2020, a proposal incorporating the structure into designs began to gather steam.
In a project rubberstamped by Gravesham Borough Council in February 2022, the hospital block would be built up to 11-storeys with a single-storey roof extension, and a new three to six-storey building attached to create an L-shaped block of homes.
M-Block is now up for sale. Picture: RPRS/Rightmove
It would have created 115 flats, though exact details needed to be ironed out. The number of properties would marginally drop to 113 in the years that followed.
As part of the terms and conditions, then-applicants Star Living were told work must start by February 17, 2025 – three years from the point of approval.
Several pre-commencement conditions, such as having a contamination land assessment and surface water drainage scheme, also needed to be approved before work could start.
Graffiti artists have made their mark on the building. Picture: RPRS/Rightmove
M-Block was bought by property investors, Strawberry Star Group, in July 2022, and for a moment, it looked like the ambitious regeneration may finally be realised.
But in June last year, the London-based firm became caught up in a legal tussle with the council after its contractors demolished the former engine room before discharging all the required conditions.
It claimed that they were “process conditions” which did not go to the “heart of the permission” and believed that the scheme had therefore been lawfully implemented.
M-Block has been left to rack and ruin. Picture: RPRS/Rightmove
The building was knocked down on February 15, two days before the planning permission was due to expire.
The firm applied for an existing lawful development certificate, a legal document issued by a local planning authority to confirm a development is lawful.
However, council officers refused Strawberry Star Group’s application, stating that the planning permission had not been lawfully implemented within the three-year statutory period.
The derelict maternity hospital in Gravesend, better known as M-Block. Picture: RPRS/Rightmove
While it was agreed work had started on the site – and that the demolition was essential to create room for the car park – it was before the pre-commencement conditions were discharged.
In the eyes of the council, the developer had cut corners and, as no lawful work took place in the three-year period, the planning permission expired.
Understandably, Gravesham Borough Council is said to be eager to see the shabby building transformed, seeing it as a key regeneration site for the town.
A CGI of what M-Block could look like after being redeveloped. Picture: Strawberry Star Group
But any project must now go through the same process. Strawberry Star Group did have the option to appeal the decision or resubmit its plans.
Instead, it has decided the building must go. Estate agent RPRS says the sale is “insolvency related”, fuelling speculation over what sort of future the developer has.
Listed as ‘price on application’, hopes are high M-Block will soon be saved from the dereliction it has fallen into.