The £2 million regeneration of the historic Mote Park in Maidstone, Kent, by Kentish Ragstone quarry company Gallagher has just been completed – within budget and two months ahead of schedule.

The 450acre park has now been officially handed over after a careful restoration and refurbishment programme. 
This included upgrading and improving the Park’s natural environment and public amenities and adding new facilities such as a pedestrian and cycling bridge across the lake.


Mote Park was awarded funding for a regeneration project by The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) under the ‘Parks for People’ scheme.

In Autumn 2011, Gallagher was appointed main contractor for the regeneration project. 
As it was undertaken well within the budget, the company provided additional improvements and facilities to enhance the park still further.

Improvements to the Park involved: Provision and placement of a variety of natural Kentish Ragstone features, quarried locally from the Group's own Hermitage Quarry;· the ‘formalisation’ of inner and outer path circuits
; restoration of the parkland, including the planting of 100 new parkland trees; upgrading the main car park, including parking bays; improvement of the Boat House Area, including the installation of a hard surface promenade area with new seating and planting of new trees near the 30acre lake; refurbishment of the refreshment facilities; restoration of the historic 1840s waterfall; restoring the neo-classical ‘Volunteers Pavilion’ dating from the 1800s; replacement of the existing ramp and small bridge arrangement across the lake with a 20m span timber and steel bridge.


In addition, Gallagher took building waste and spoil from Mote Park to its Hermitage Quarry and processed it in its recycling plant into quality recycled aggregate for re-use in the Mote Park regeneration project.


Jason Taylor, Parks Manager and Leisure Manager at Maidstone Borough Council, said: 
“Mote Park receives more than a million visitors a year and carrying out the extensive works involved in a £2million project without closing the park was always going to be challenging.

"The Gallagher team worked with the council to ensure that any inconvenience to the public was kept to an absolute minimum. Many of those who worked on the project lived near to the park and this certainly made a difference in how they treated it.

"The team that worked in the park got to know the regular park users and kept them updated on what was going on.

"I would certainly work with Gallagher’s again and would recommend them to others involved in this type of project.”


Gallagher is a Maidstone-based building, civil engineering and quarrying business. It is responsible for the local Hermitage Quarry which produces the famous ancient stone, Kentish Ragstone. 
Nick Yandle, Chief Executive of Gallagher Group, said: “As a local company, we love to work on local projects that can really make a difference. That is why we were very proud to have worked on the regeneration of Mote Park.”