Designer Wayne Hemingway is teaming up with construction firms to reassure investors the biggest regeneration project in Europe will not be derailed by the property slump.

While employers such as Bovis, based in New Ash Green, Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon have laid off hundreds of workers in the past few months, exhibitors at Construction Expo 2008 will emphasise the importance of the Thames Gateway scheme.

They will be promoting the project and underlining the need for a skilled workforce at the event being held in Chatham Historic Dockyard on September 24. It will showcase businesses pledged to deliver the scheme over the next 10 - 15 years.

More than 100 exhibitors from across the industry are attending what is claimed to be the largest construction and regeneration show ever staged in the county. Admission is free.

Mr Hemingway, who has been involved in The Bridge development at Dartford, will be the keynote speaker at the expo, which is organised by North Kent Construction Skills and backed by Medway Council.

Another speaker David Liston-Jones, chief executive of Thames Gateway Kent Partnership, said: "Although the credit crunch has impacted hard on the construction industry, especially those involved in house building, the area remains attractive to investors that recognise its significance to the economic success of London and the South East.

"Economists may be predicting that the slowdown will continue for a while yet, but it is important to recognise that the Thames Gateway is a long term project."

Kent-based Denne Construction will host a mini-expo designed to promote the industry to school pupils as a great career option.

More details at www.constructionexpo.co.uk

Meanwhile, the University of Greenwich at Medway has launched a number of construction courses to meet the needs of the county’s building industry.

From this month, students are able to sign up at Medway for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Building Surveying, Construction Management, Architectural Design and Quantity Surveying.

Peter Dalton, of the university¹s School of Architecture and Construction, said: "Construction is coming to the University of Greenwich at Medway in order to meet the growing numbers of people from within Kent who require specialist training.

"As a county, Kent has a lot of construction schemes on the go and will continue to do so into the future - especially with regeneration of areas such as the Thames Gateway. As a university we felt it was important that we help meet the skills demand there is now and will be in the future and these courses will provide training and education to the next generation of construction professionals."

The courses are accredited by professional bodies including the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB).

More details at www.gre.ac.uk, telephone 0800 005 006 or e-mail courseinfo@greenwich.ac.uk