House builder Countryside Properties has won a £400 million contract to build a 1,300-home riverside community over the next 12 years.

The developer will transform 74 acres of brownfield land next to the River Medway near Rochester with a new school, nursery, hotels, restaurants, gym and office space.

It was selected for Rochester Riverside, as the project is known, by Medway Council and the Homes and Communities Agency, which co-owns the site and has invested £90 million in preparation works.

It fought off competition from two other developers in the final round of a tendering process and is set to submit its first planning application by the end of the year.

Construction could be underway by the summer of next year and will be complete around the summer of 2028.

Around a quarter of the new homes built are set to be affordable housing.

Medway Council regenetion chief Cllr Rodney Chambers said: “This is a really important step for this regeneration scheme and it means we can now get the ball rolling and work with Countryside to produce what is set to be a really impressive development for Medway.

“Rochester Riverside is a major part of our ambitious 20-year regeneration plan, helping us to meet the needs of Medway’s growing population, with more homes, a new school and other much needed facilities.

“It is all well connected to the historic heart of Rochester and the new railway station on Rochester Riverside with connections to the new multi-storey car park due to open by the end of April 2016.”

A new £26 million Rochester railway station, designed to connect the community to London and the rest of Kent, opened in December.