Work is set to begin on a new Asda superstore as part of a £650m development after a financial services company stumped up £39.6m to get the project started.

The first phase of the Chatham Waters dockside regeneration project will see a 73,000sq ft supermarket built after investment firm Legal & General provided the funding to developer Peel.

The Asda superstore and a petrol station are expected to open in autumn 2015 and will create 450 jobs.

Legal & General will fund the construction of the outlet and then take a 25 year lease on the site.

The Chatham Waters project – set to transform a 1.9m sq ft heavy industrial site – is set to create 3,500 jobs and will include 950 homes, 430,000sqft of offices and a hotel.

Peel development director James Whittaker said: "We are pleased to welcome Asda as the very first occupier at Chatham Waters at a key area of the site fronting Pier Road.

"Their confirmation enables us to start work on the road improvements and landscaping in this phase breathing new life into a significant area of the dockland.

"Chatham Waters is a wholly privately-funded development with Peel investing £25m in Phase 1 alone and it is hoped it will give the region a real economic boost."

Asda head of UK property communications Doug Wilson said: "We are delighted to have secured investment from Peel to allow us to fulfil our ambitions to create a new Asda store and petrol filling station at Peel’s Chatham Waters development in Kent.

"We are delighted to be providing the catalyst to this major regeneration scheme which will we believe will transform the local area..." - Legal & General's Adam Kerr

"The new store will cater for local residents in the area as well as the new residents who will arrive when further phases of the development are complete."

Legal & General Property's head of long income transactions Adam Kerr said: "We are delighted to be providing the catalyst to this major regeneration scheme which will we believe will transform the local area, offering significant benefits both in terms of job opportunities and social amenities."

The deal with Asda enables Peel to start on further work on the site.

Contractors Sisk will work on road improvements, highway works and landscaping, which form the rest of the first phase of the development.

They will also begin work on creating a platform for the new £10m University Technical College (UTC), recently given planning permission by Medway Council.