Medway's biggest town. The Victorian terraces of New Brompton, built for the dockyard, interwar streets in Gillingham East, post-war Twydall and the 1970s and 80s houses at Hempstead and Wigmore: four eras of house in one town.
Gillingham
Gillingham grew fast with the dockyard. New Brompton was built for dockyard workers because the Chatham Lines stopped building nearer the yard, and the population went from about 9,000 in 1851 to over 42,000 by 1901. In Gillingham South, 85 per cent of homes still date from before 1919. Twydall is mostly post-war, and Hempstead and Wigmore were largely built from the 1960s to the 90s.
Most of the town sits on chalk, with Thanet Formation sand on the north side around Gillingham Green, Hillyfields and Grange, and clay-with-flints capping the chalk at Hempstead and Wigmore. Chalk is generally good ground, with one catch: the British Geological Survey rates the risk of old underground chalk workings as significant around Twydall and Hempstead, and chalk can dissolve to leave hidden voids. So ask about the ground history early; building control will inspect every trench before concrete.
Terraced streets mean shared walls, so almost every extension or loft in central Gillingham involves Party Wall notices to the neighbours. Ask your builder early who will prepare them.
Permissions
Medway Council
Medway Council decides planning applications, and building control is provided by STG Building Control from its office on Rochester High Street. The council strongly encourages a Lawful Development Certificate for work you believe is permitted development. Gillingham Green, Gillingham Park, Railway Street, Lower Twydall and Brompton Lines are conservation areas, and in Gillingham Park an Article 4 direction means front windows, doors, roofs, porches, driveways, walls and painting on Park Avenue, Malvern Road, Holmside, Stuart Road and parts of Oxford, Cleave, Nelson and Napier Roads all need permission. Since January 2026, turning a house into a small HMO needs planning permission in Gillingham North, Gillingham South and Watling wards.
Services in Gillingham
Side-return and rear extensions on the New Brompton terraces, where the galley kitchen is the narrowest room in the house.
→Rear dormer lofts on the terraces, adding a bedroom and bathroom without touching the street side.
→Footings dug with Gillingham's chalk workings in mind, shown to building control before any concrete.
→Re-roofs on the interwar and post-war houses, and like-for-like work in the Gillingham Park Article 4 streets.
→Brick matching on Victorian terraces, and party walls built and finished properly.
→Sash windows, panelled doors and staircases for the period houses.
→Common projects
Planning one of these? Tell us about your project and we'll pass it to local builders who cover Gillingham.
Questions
Get quotes
A rough idea and a postcode is enough. We'll pass it to local builders who cover Gillingham, and they'll contact you directly.
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