The plans will provide more than 1,200 homes and represent the first foray into private housing by developers who had previously specialised in commercial schemes.
Delancey – the property company of Jamie Ritblat, son of Sir John Ritblat, ex-chief executive of British Land – has bought a 33 acre former GlaxoSmithKline chemicals site in Dartford for £15m.
It will be developed into 970 homes with a total value of about £200m.
The former Sittingbourne Paper Mill site has been sold for £6m to a 50-50 joint venture between Essential Land, a London-based developer, and Simon Holley and Simon Blake, two former CBRE industrial property agents.
The £100m project will provide 250 homes, a food store and retail park.
One contractor told the Enquirer: “This is very positive news and boosts our hopes that more private funding will be injected into house building as public money runs dry.
“We are hoping that private deals like this will fill the gaps and spark a new wave of private schemes.
“There is obviously massive pent-up demand for new homes and we are ready to build the next wave.”