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Work in Kent and Medway
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About Kent and Medway
Kent is one of the largest counties in the UK with a population of 1.3 million. A diverse mixture of the rural (70 per cent of the land is agricultural) and the urban (18 towns and one city - Canterbury), Kent has two areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, 22 international wildlife sites, 102 sites of Special Scientific interest, 10 Special Landscape Areas, two stretches of heritage coast, more than 18,000 listed buildings and over 500 Conservation Areas. Kent is known as the ‘Gateway to Europe’ and has the longest coastline of any English county. More than half the UK’s goods pass through Dover.
The west of the county is fairly affluent but has some pockets of deprivation. The east has major areas in need of regeneration and significant pockets of deprivation but also many assets in the potential of the coastal towns, a spectacular environment and a rich heritage
The Economy
According to Kent County Council’s Regeneration and Economy Division, Kent will experience unprecedented growth over the next 10-20 years, bringing more than 100,000 new homes and jobs to the county. Regeneration initiatives focus on coastal regeneration (with an initial focus on Margate, Ramsgate, Dover and Folkstone); rural regeneration (support for rural communities; promoting Kentish produce; conservation of woodlands, promotion of non-food crops eg medicines, construction materials and fuels, and helping to create an international centre of excellence for their research and development; and urban regeneration (Thames Gateway North Kent and Ashford are government growth areas).
Thirteen per cent of Kent’s working population commutes to London and a further 17 per cent to other areas outside Kent (mainly Surrey and Sussex). Kent is below the regional average for skills and has a comparatively low unemployment. The county has a comparatively low unemployment rate and the skills shortages are those identified in the south-east generally - in intermediate and low skilled occupations and in areas such as IT, management, languages and customer services.
Major employers
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Major employment sectors are public administration, education and health; distribution, hotels and restaurants, finance, IT and other business activities. In Thanet manufacturing accounts for over 10 per cent of the workforce.
Service industries account for half of all employment in Kent while other key sectors include local government, health services, education, financial services and retail. Kent’s location as the ‘Gateway to Europe’ is reflected in job opportunities in transport, distribution and travel/tourism.
The regeneration initiatives will bring opportunities in construction, project management, and retail, and are also lending support to the tourism industry by promoting Kent as a great visitor destination. There is also significant support for small to medium sized businesses and encouragement of emerging business sectors – particularly creative and cultural industries; scientific and knowledge-based industries; and the land based economy. Kent County Council now has a dedicated film location officer to help promote Kent for location filming.
The tourism sector in Kent generates direct visitor spend of £1.8 billion per annum, and supports over 49,000 jobs, land based industries generate over £600 million for the local economy each year, and over 500 locally based eco-enterprises serve a growing global marketplace for environmental goods and services
Within the manufacturing sector, engineering industries, biotechnology manufacturing and research, and pharmaceuticals are significant areas. Major regeneration and development projects such as the Thames Gateway have created a range of opportunities in the construction sector. A number of food processing manufacturers handle agricultural produce grown in Kent or imported from continental Europe and beyond. A historically important Kentish industry has been paper manufacture and a number of companies still continue this traditional business in modern plants.
Around three quarters of jobs in Kent and Medway are with small and medium-sized enterprises. Major companies in the county include:
Biotechnologies and pharmaceuticals: Abbott Laboratories (Queenborough and Dartford); Aesica (Isle of Sheppey), Bedfont Scientific (Rochester) , Cardinal Health (Chatham); Genzyme Diagnostics (West Malling); Glaxo Smith Kline (Dartford), Kent Pharmaceuticals (Ashford), Murex Biotech (Dartford), Pfizer (Sandwich), Remel Europe Ltd (Dartford), Smiths Medical International (Hythe).
Manufacturing and engineering: BAE Systems (defence systems - Rochester), Lafarge Cement UK (UK's largest cement manufacturer – Northfleet); paper producers Swantex Ltd (Swanley); Aylesford Newsprint (Aylesford)
Travel & transport:Eurostar, Eurotunnel, ferry companies, Saga (Folkestone)
Financial services: Many global and national companies including eg AXA PPP (Tunbridge Wells); Cabot Financial (West Malling), Fidelity International (Tonbridge), Heartwood Wealth Management (Tunbridge Wells), Royal Bank of Scotland (Ashford), Scottish Widows (Northfleet), AXA PPP (Tunbridge Wells), Saga Financial Services (Folkestone) IT: eg Durodata (Canterbury), Tendac eCRM (Canterbury), Synchronica plc (Tunbridge Wells).
At the Kent Science Park over 80 innovative companies are engaged in pharmaceutics, biotechnology and high-tech engineering. In the public sector the county council, the Medway unitary authority, a range of educational institutions, and the healthcare trusts are also major employers.
Major employment and retail centres include Ashford, Canterbury, Dartford, Dover, Faversham, Folkestone, Gravesend, Maidstone, Northfleet, Sevenoaks, Sittingbourne, Sheerness, Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells.
About Medway
Located within the county of Kent but a distinct area with its own unitary authority Medway comprises Chatham, Gillingham, Rainham, Rochester and Strood and is the largest urban area in the south-east outside London. The area is part of the Thames Gateway Regeneration Programme that will create new opportunities for business expansion and inward investment. The Medway economy is worth around £2.8 billion per year and has more than 13,000 businesses but it has a targeted growth rate of twice the national average and is expected to create 40,000 jobs by 2026.
Medway benefits from comprehensive transport links with Europe and the UK, ready access to the M2, M20 and M25, the Channel Tunnel, Channel Tunnel Rail Link – Domestic services (beginning December 2009), and a trans-global seaport.
Medway Renaissance is overseeing the area’s regeneration, which will include a riverside development at Rochester and the transformation of Chatham into a new city centre for Medway, with hotels, offices, cultural facilities and a major retail centre.
Major employers
- Major companies in the area include advanced manufacturing and engineering:around 900 manufacturing and engineering companies in Medway including BAE Systems, Delphi Diesel Systems, and the new Medway Innovation Centre.
- Medical instrumentation - cluster includes Bedfont Scientific (Rochester), Cardinal Health (Chatham)
Finance and business services - Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS, Lloyds of London, Lloyds TSB - Energy and environmental technologies - E-On, Scottish Power
- Creative industries - more than 1,000 creative businesses registered in the Medway Diamond (towns of Chatham, Gillingham, Rainham and Strood, and the City of Rochester).
- Retail and leisure – major expansion planned
- Ports and logistics – Medway’s combined port activities make it the ninth largest port in the UK by volume and includes Thamesport container port and Chatham port
An innovative educational feature of Medway is the Universities at Medway Campus, a partnership between the University of Kent, Greenwich University and Mid-Kent College (largest FE college in Thames Gateway – soon to move to a new campus in Gillingham). The University of Greenwich has a campus at Chatham and the University College for the Creative Arts has a campus at Rochester.
