South East builder Apex Contractors has secured a £15m deal to refurbish Medway Council’s Gun Wharf headquarters in Chatham and reopen parts of the troubled building for wider community use.

The project forms the main works package of a wider £22m overhaul of the council’s Dock Road base, which has faced disruption since 2023 because of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete concerns.

The £35m turnover regional contractor’s work will include a new council chamber, a café and wider modernisation works aimed at bringing the building back into fuller use.

The job will also tackle the RAAC issues that forced sections of the headquarters to close, alongside energy efficiency upgrades such as replacement windows and electrical infrastructure improvements.

Work is due to start on 18 May, with the first phase set for completion by the end of this year. Overall delivery is scheduled to run through to 29 July 2027.

Medway councillors were told delays had been driven partly by the scramble for specialist RAAC contractors after the issue emerged as a national problem across public sector buildings dating from the 1950s to the 1990s.

The council said it had looked at alternative options, including selling Gun Wharf and relocating its headquarters, before deciding refurbishment offered the best route forward.