HAVE CHANGED

our towns look and feel.

From schools to hospitals, supermarkets to industrial complexes, it has seen the changing trends over the years.

It played a key role in constructing the industrial sites which provided employment for thousands of people. From the telegraph works at WT Henley’s in Gravesend in 1915, to Kemsley Mills in Sittingbourne; its work, along with that of other firms, became part of the fabric of our society. It built the TV studios in Maidstone, the Marlowe Arcade and Whitefriars

shopping centres in Canterbury, Bouverie Place in Folkestone, the town centre Ashford College site, blocks of flats in Rochester, the Bluewater Events Centre and even was involved in what was then RAF Manston in Thanet during the 1950s. Next week the official opening takes place of the £26 million Dover Leisure Centre – another one of its projects.

The construction industry tends to surf our changing habits and lifestyles – responding to the trends.

While the work during much of the 20th century was focused on building up industry, the 1990s saw the boom in out-oftown supermarket superstores. Now local authorities are investing heavily in town centres in a bid to reverse their flagging fortunes.

Adam Harding, BAM director for the south east, said: “It goes in cycles depending on how people live their lives.

“You have the architecture which changes through the years, different materials and different technologies but also the way people use buildings these days are dramatically different to even 10-15 years’ ago.

“You look at how offices are used today, with much more of a focus around agile working. We have greater technologies now so people don’t have to sit behind desks, whereas not long ago we were building big corporate headquarters which could house 3,000 people.”

And does he ever look back at buildings from decades gone by and ask, like so many of us do, just what were they thinking of?

“I suppose I do,” he agrees, “but that was the fashion, that was the way the economy worked at the time, how people’s lives were run, and at the time it was probably the up-most in

technology and the most modern facility you could have imagined.

“Now you wonder how they could have lived in that sort of environment – you see it in housing to schools, hospitals – there’s a huge change in the way we all live.

“Specialisms in construction techniques play a part. Quarrying is more expensive now, so there are not so many natural stone buildings; we see a lot of technology with lighter weight materials and that’s all driven through sustainability.”

And what can we expect to see in our towns going forward?

“Education is still very much a prime market, and there’s a big emphasis on the health and leisure sector.

“We’re about to finish a scheme in Dover and I know Kent County Council is looking at another major leisure facility.

“There has been a big shift for better facilities around leisure which obviously reflects on our health and wellbeing and the drive for people to be healthy, live longer and look after themselves.”