As a keen supporter and funder of arts projects in Kent for more than 20 years, Kings Hill developer Liberty Property Trust UK Ltd has received the ultimate accolade from a Turner prizewinner.

Kings Hill has been immortalised by Grayson Perry in ‘The Vanity of Small Differences’, a series of six tapestries depicting class mobility. They feature life in the upper, middle and lower classes and Kings Hill was the inspiration for middle class life.

The development also featured in the accompanying Channel Four TV programme, with several of the residents taking part in the film and included in the tapestry. It is hoped the work will be on show at Kings Hill in due course.

Several of the Kings Hill sculptures also featured on the TV programme, including the iconic silver ball ‘A Different Ball Game’; ‘Tug of War’, a bronze sculpture of children and a dog and the most recent installation, ‘Guardian Figure’.

“As a masterplanning developer, we have always taken the long view and an holistic approach to creating new communities,” said Andrew Blevins, managing director of Liberty Property Trust UK Ltd. “We invest in the soft and social infrastructure of our developments, and believe that public art is a vital element of successful placemaking.

“Kings Hill is a prime example of Liberty’s approach, given that the whole development retains its freshness and interest, with the more established parts remaining as vibrant as the new and ongoing development.

Kings Hill resident Kate Pinnell, who runs a recruitment business with her husband Simon, was one of the people interviewed by Grayson Perry and was seen on TV showing him around her house.

“It is great that Kings Hill is being recognised in the tapestries and I was very pleased to be asked to take part,” she said. “People here have bought into a lifestyle and have a vested interest in making the community work, and the artworks are an important element in the pride we take in our surroundings.”

Every two years, Liberty Property Trust UK Ltd – together with Kent County Council – funds and organises the Liberty Kent Public Art Award for the best public artwork created in the county, which carries a total prize of £15,000. It also stages regular art exhibitions in the office buildings and has commissioned many sculptures for both the residential and business areas of the development.

Kings Hill is set in 800 acres near the county town of Maidstone and is just two miles from junction 4 of the M20. It was a former airfield and is now home to around 6,500 residents and more than 100 businesses employing some 5,000 people.

There is an 18 hole golf course; cricket pitch; David Lloyd Leisure centre; further recreation and sports amenities; schools and a village centre with shops including Waitrose; Costa Coffee; Domino’s and restaurants as well as a surgery, dry cleaners, shoe repairers, pharmacy and opticians.

For more information visit www.kings-hill.com

For further information on Kings Hill, please contact:
Alison Hardy, Maxim on 01892 513033 / Alison@maxim-pr.co.uk

Notes to Editors:

Liberty Property Trust UK Ltd (formerly Rouse Kent Ltd) is a subsidiary of US-based Liberty Property Trust, a Real Estate Investment Trust, listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Liberty Property Trust (NYSE:LRY), headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania, is a leader in commercial real estate, serving customers in the United States and the United Kingdom, through the development, acquisition, ownership and management of superior office and industrial properties. Liberty Property Trust owns and manages 650 properties totalling 77 million sq ft, accommodating 1,700 occupiers and has a market capitalisation of $6.5 billion.

Liberty Property Trust UK is developing Kings Hill - www.kings-hill.com - as a rapidly growing new community combining commercial, residential, educational, retail, community, sports and leisure uses within 800 acres of highly landscaped low density park land. The US inspired concept aims to promote quality of life and provide a unique environment in which people can live, work, play and study. In addition to providing accommodation for SME’s, Kings Hill also attracts significant international tenants such as Barclays, Rail Europe, Cabot Financial, Man Group and Kimberly-Clark.

Liberty Property Trust UK Ltd is also developing Didsbury Point business park in Manchester – www.didsburypoint.com, the Cambridge Biomedical Campus adjacent Addenbrooke’s Hospital – www.cambridgebiomedicalcampus.com and Blythe Valley Park in the West Midlands – www.blythevalleypark.com.

Liberty Property Trust UK and Kent County Council have formed a collaborative public/private sector “partnership” having entered into a Development Agreement to create an exemplar mixed-use community. Kings Hill is the County’s flagship development for attracting inward investment and promoting regional economic growth and it also seeks to deliver in all areas of existing and evolving Government policy priorities.