Ebbsfleet garden city masterplan to be delivered by AECOM

The firm, which previously worked on the London 2012 Olympic masterplan, will work with three sub-consultants: architect Maccreanor Lavington, property consultancy Cushman and Wakefield and public realm design company Spacehub; on a strategy for the next 20 years of Ebbsfleet's development.

AECOM has said in a statement that its masterplan for the 1,026-hectare site "will incorporate distinct communities" and "connect housing growth with existing and future infrastructure investment to accelerate housing development".

UK chancellor George Osborne announced plans to create a 15,000-home garden city at Ebbsfleet in a statement in March 2014. The Ebbsfleet Development Corporation was established earlier this year and given powers to determine planning applications in the area and to enter and purchase land on a compulsory basis.

Work on the masterplan is expected to commence immediately and to be completed next year.

Planning expert Jo Miles of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said: "As the government’s flagship garden city, all eyes will be on Ebbsfleet as the newly formed Development Corporation brings forward its vision to unlock over 1,000 hectares of mainly brownfield land, supported by up to £200m of Government investment."

"Unlike mayoral development corporations, the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation will not have plan-making powers so will not be able to secure the adoption of the masterplan as part of the statutory development plan. It therefore remains to be seen what status the masterplan will have in planning terms," she said.

"Once the masterplan has been consulted on and finalised, the challenge for the Corporation will be how to ensure its principles are adhered to as detailed development proposals come forward, and how to ensure the masterplan remains relevant over the next 20 years," Miles said.