Much of the area around that famous landmark is run down and in need of a facelift.

The good news is, however, that a facelift on a spectacular scale could be only a matter of 12-18 months away and the GKN site and the sheds with their Union flag image could become the centrepiece of a large scale redevelopment project known as Cowes Waterfront, the aim of which is to regenerate much of Cowes, East Cowes and Newport, cementing the Medina Valley's links with the marine industry at the same time.

Cowes Waterfront is a large scale regeneration project for the Medina Valley that will create jobs, attract investment and bring new facilities to Cowes, East Cowes and Newport Harbour, helping to ensure that the Isle of Wight is a vibrant place to live and work.

As Mike King, enterprise and investment director at the Isle of Wight Economic Partnership (IWEP) explained, one of the main aims of the project is to strengthen the island's position as a centre of excellence for the composites and specialist marine sectors.

The Medina Valley is of critical important to the economic wellbeing of the region as a whole and, if the area is to continue to flourish in future, it is essential to create the conditions in which the wealth of technical expertise and skills that are there already can be used to facilitate expansion and create new job opportunities.

Together, companies such as SP Systems, which produces advanced composites for a range of industries - not least boatbuilding - and NEG Micron, which uses composites to build the blades for wind turbines, plus GKN Aerospace, which also makes extensive use of composites, employ getting on for 2,000 people on the Isle of Wight.

Composites important Factor in a large number of boatbuilders and related companies and the importance of the composites industry and the marine industry as a whole is evident, a fact not lost on King and his colleagues at IWEP, who see a number of local employers that could quickly form the basis of a "centre of excellence".

"What we want to do, " he explained, "is to take the existing skills base, and improve upon and enhance it, and work with the companies in question, and with academic institutions and other bodies who can add training and research and development skills to that skills base."

The origins of this ambitious Cowes Waterfront project date back to September 2002, when a study was commissioned to provide the strategic framework and provide planning guidance to IWEP, the local authority, and the Southeast of England Development Agency (SEEDA).

The study encompassed the regeneration of the area as a whole, taking into account the entire Medina Valley and, where possible, using existing sites and premises to support the future development of the Isle of Wight economy.

Reinvigorating the marine industry apart, Cowes Waterfront also seeks to attract modern leisure and recreational facilities to the area - including hotels, restaurants, cafes, and, interestingly, a new marina.

New life As King points out, bringing new life and new visitors to the town centres in question will help support existing businesses and retailers, and secure better and sustainable facilities for local communities and, as he put it, "establish Cowes Waterfront as 'the place to be'."

The Cowes Waterfront initiative has four main elements.

1) Business; providing resources and infrastructure for business success and growth.

2) Communities; creating job opportunities and enhancing community living with improved amenities.

3) Environment; maintaining and enhancing the unique environmental resources of the Medina Valley.

4) Infrastructure; bringing under used and derelict sites and premises back into productive use.

Cowes Waterfront's progress has been rapid and in just over 18 months two public consultations/exhibitions have been staged, a Strategic Development Framework has been produced and has been adopted as Supplementary Planning guidance, whilst SEEDA, working on behalf of Cowes Waterfront, has acquired two significant sites in the area.

The first is the site of the famous Union flag shed (Columbine) at the former GKN North Works, an 8-hectare (20 acre) site that fronts the River Medina which closed down at the end of 2002 following the downturn in the aerospace industry. It was originally used for the construction of seaplanes and, perhaps most famously, was where hovercraft were first developed and manufactured.

The second site, the East Cowes site, has been purchased by SEEDA on behalf of the Cowes Waterfront initiative to form part of a mixed-use business, leisure and housing development.

As many readers will know, the former GKN site already has one occupant, following the announcement that Ellen MacArthur's Offshore Challenges Sailing Team will be the first tenant of Cowes Waterfront's Venture Quays.

Offshore Challenges now occupies 3,000 square feet of offices on the first floor of the Columbine building, overlooking the River Medina, and is using the Venture Quays' sheds for the repair and refit of racing yachts. In fact, the Offshore Challenges technical team has just finished the preparation of Samantha Davies' Skandia Figaro Beneteau , ready for her departure to France for the 2004 Figaro campaign, after which the team is planning to concentrate its efforts to repair and refit MacArthur's exKingfisher2 catamaran, following its return to the UK from Australia at the end of 2003.

Wind turbine blades A second new tenant at Venture Quays is NEG Micon Rotors, an Isle of Wight-based manufacturer of wind turbine blades, which is expanding its operation into Venture Quays to increase capacity and handle larger blades, creating up to 120 new jobs for local people in the process.

As King explained, very shortly a design practice will be appointed to prepare the master plan for the development of the site, which will involve extensive consultation with local residents and key stakeholders.

SEEDA, on behalf of Cowes Waterfront, has also purchased another area, of approximately eight acres, at Three Gates Road in Cowes, a site which King says is ideal for the development of a business park. The park will offer alternative space for businesses that don't require direct access to the waterfront.

The Strategic Development Framework which is forming the Cowes Waterfront initiative is broken down into a total of five zones which, briefly, comprise:

Zone 1: Town Centres, Leisure and Events . Forming an arc around the mouth of the river encompassing the towns of Cowes and East Cowes. This zone is the key location for yachting events and support facilities and the framework document for Cowes Waterfront recommends an improvement to facilities for local people and visitors.

Among the suggestions are mixed use developments, including hotels, shops, cafes, restaurants, new waterfront access and marina facilities.

Zone 2: Marine Industries.

Themajority of this area is used by marine industries with access to the water frontage. The framework sets out ideas to improve facilities and encourage new waterfront employment uses and marine facilities, including a specialised marine business park.

Zone 3: Commercial Shipping.

The site of two wharves, shipping grain, aggregates and fuel oil. The framework suggests maximising efficiency of existing wharf and dock facilities, retaining existing aggregates and Employment pressures squeeze out Woolston marina The need to create new sources of employment and a desire to maintain the long tradition of marine-related industry in the area could scupper plans to build a new marina on another site that forms a key part of SEEDA's plans for a "marine cluster" on the south coast.

The site in question is the former Vosper Thornycroft shipyard at Woolston on the River Itchen, which SEEDA has also recently acquired.

SEEDA and Southampton City Council are working on a draft planning brief for the Woolston Riverside site, which should be ready by Easter. But plans to build a marina there as part of the redevelopment of the site look less likely to proceed because Southampton City Council wants to focus on other, marinerelated, industries at the site and uses that could provide employment opportunities, rather than a marina.

Richard Smith, who is working on the plan for the City Council, said that a viable site for a marina existed at the north end of the old Vosper Thornycroft yard, where a quay with dredging rights was located, but the Council - and SEEDA - are looking at other potential uses, such as a boatyard or a repair yard.

As Mr Smith explained to BB , demand for this kind of use is high, and in some parts of Southampton unemployment is high too, so although a marina would create some employment, other types of marine-related use are favoured by the council and by SEEDA.

The planning brief for the site will include a "Masterplan" that will show - in broad terms - what uses will be made of the site and how the different areas will relate to each other. Planning permission for the site will probably be sought in September, said King.

DF Second site secured for employment projects SEEDA has also recently acquired a 3.32 hectare (8.21 acre) site at Three Gates Road, in Cowes, on behalf of Cowes Waterfront.

The site, acquired by SEEDA from Broadfield Development Ltd, is identified in the Isle of Wight Unitary Development Plan as a site for future employment development and already has outline planning permission.

Peter Cusdin, development projects director at SEEDA, told BB that work should start at the site in the spring of 2005 and Mike King at IWEP described the site as "ideally placed" to provide much-needed work space for non-water dependant businesses, possibly freeing up sites by the water for those that do need them.

DF grain storage facilities. It's also proposed that other aggregates facilities along the river should be rationalised to provide space for additional employment uses and boat storage.

Zone 4: Environmental Priority.

This takes in the most environmentally sensitive areas of the Medina Valley. The area will not be subject to significant development, but opportunities exist to enhance the environmental value and bio-diversity on the river valley and the estuary. Existing sites will be improved and enhanced including provision of new employment work space and the continued development of the successful St Cross Business Park for offices, high tech manufacturing and employment.

Zone 5: Newport Harbour.

Thefurthest navigable point on the Medina is Newport Harbour. A comprehensive study of the area was undertaken previously by the Isle of Wight Council and aims to provide a mixed use "quarter" with residential, cultural and employment uses, plus evening uses in an attractive, high quality environment.

Planning and development In February, SEEDA announced the appointment of King Sturge as planning and development consultants for the former GKN north works site at East Cowes, which it has acquired on behalf of the Cowes Waterfront partners - IWEP, and Isle of Wight Council.

Speaking at the time that the announcement was made, Peter Cusdin, development projects director at SEEDA said: "SEEDA looks forward to working with King Sturge to develop, in consultation with stakeholders and local residents, future plans for this major site."

Michael Green, partner in charge of the King Sturge Southampton office is leading the project and together with Philip Robin, head of planning, will be responsible for coordinating the professional team in the production of a master plan for the regeneration of the site and surrounding areas. King Sturge will also be providing advice on marketing and selection of development partners.

Green said the company quickly recognised the site's enormous redevelopment potential when instructed by GKN.

The precise mix of uses will evolve through the master planning exercise, but the site has the potential to accommodate a marina, homes, marine-related employment uses, a hotel/conference centre, retail, restaurant and leisure uses.

The regeneration of the site may also be linked to proposals to upgrade East Cowes town centre and the Red Funnel ferry terminal.

King acknowledges that there are a lot of environmental issues to be faced if a marina is to be developed on the GKN site. He also acknowledged it is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain licences for dredging work anywhere in the UK, even if planning permission for a marina is obtained.

Moreover, as highlighted elsewhere in this article, part of SEEDA's remit is foster employment opportunities in the area and it's possible that, as elsewhere on the south coast, environmental issues and SEEDA's desire to provide employment opportunities first and foremost could see a marina on the GKN site edged out, as it probably has been in nearby Southampton (see box).

However, the marine industry - and related industries, such as composites - look certain to play key role in the regeneration of the area as a whole, and in the development of SEEDA's ambitious "maritime cluster".