Folkestone’s £2m Folca Redevelopment Delayed Until 2029

Council’s £2m buyout of the Folkestone Debenhams in 2020 promised rapid regeneration – but five years, 13 contracts and many delays later, the site may not fully reopen until 2029.

A Bold Purchase Amid High Hopes

When Debenhams closed its Folkestone store on Sunday, 19 January 2020, it left a prominent High Street building empty. In a swift move to prevent a long-term blight, Folkestone & Hythe District Council (F&HDC) announced on 12 March 2020 that it had agreed to buy the former department store. The purchase was completed on 15 May 2020 for £2.05 million, and the site was soon rebranded as “Folca” after a public naming exercise referencing the town’s Saxon heritage. The acquisition was hailed as a “bold strategic move” to anchor town-centre regeneration, with ambitious plans for new uses.

From the outset, the council’s vision for the old Debenhams was expansive. A press release in March 2020 outlined “visionary proposals” including a state-of-the-art health centre, leisure facilities, flexible workspace and even homes on the site. The idea was to consolidate two GP surgeries into a modern medical hub at Folca, boosting footfall and public services in the town centre.

In January 2021, before any redevelopment work began, the council offered Folca to the NHS as part of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout, turning the empty store into a temporary vaccination hub – a move leaders said embodied their aim to see the building benefit the community from the outset. Later that year, in September 2021, Cabinet unanimously backed the terms for a 150-year lease to allow the NHS to progress plans for a £16 million health centre at Folca. At that point, optimism was high: doors could open by late 2024 if all permissions and funding fell into place.

Five Years Of Plans – But Little Progress On Site

Today, however, the Folca building remains largely empty and far from its promised revival. In the five years since the council’s purchase, no construction or major redevelopment has been completed. Instead, the council has been busy behind the scenes commissioning studies, surveys and plans. According to council records, 13 separate contracts related to the Folca redevelopment have been awarded to consultants and specialists since 2020, totaling £293,155 in value. These contracts – none of which involved actual building work – illustrate the slow churn of preparation. Tens of thousands of pounds have been spent on structural surveys, design work, feasibility appraisals, decarbonisation plans and valuation reports – yet the physical fabric of the former store is unchanged.

Council officials have acknowledged frustration at the slow pace. Much of the holdup stemmed from complications with the health hub plan. The NHS, initially enthusiastic, had not finalized its requirements or business case for moving GP services into Folca, causing the council to wait on critical decisions. Rising construction costs, funding uncertainties, and the pandemic’s ripple effects further dragged out the timeline.

Meanwhile, the site’s two conjoined buildings – “Folca 1” (the Edwardian corner block – pictured below) and “Folca 2” (the larger Art Deco wing) – complicated matters further. Folca 1 was earmarked for the health hub but was later found to be in extremely poor condition, requiring an estimated £3.8 million just to make it watertight. In December 2023, the NHS formally withdrew from the Folca 1 plan, forcing the council to reassess.

New Plans, More Delays – Opening Pushed to 2029

In May 2025, the council announced a reworked vision: Folca 1 would be put up for sale, while Folca 2 (pictured below) would be redeveloped into a scaled-down town centre health and civic hub. This revised scheme now forms part of a £20 million investment into the town centre through the government-funded Folkestone – A Brighter Future programme – £2.2 million of which is specifically earmarked for Folca. This sits alongside £1.44 million from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme for low-carbon upgrades, and a proposed £9.6 million loan by the council itself. The rest of the budget is to be supported by selling council assets, including Folca 1 and the Civic Centre.

According to the council’s “new plans” update, Folca 2 will house GP services on the first and second floors, with ground and basement levels for commercial uses designed to drive footfall. The intention is to create a hub that combines healthcare with economic regeneration, matching government regeneration objectives for struggling town centres.

However, the timeline is sobering: according to the council’s July 2025 project brief, construction would not begin until late 2026, with practical completion expected in April 2028 and final certification in March 2029. By that stage, Folkestone & Hythe District Council itself will no longer exist, due to the planned local government reorganisation replacing district councils in Kent with new unitary authorities. That means the council which bought Folca and drove its redevelopment will not even be in existence to cut the ribbon.

Local reaction has been mixed, with some welcoming the focus on Folca 2, while others lament the slow progress and partial fulfilment of the original 2020 promises. For now, Folkestone’s most prominent empty building remains a reminder of how regeneration can be delayed, re-scoped and derailed – all while the High Street waits.

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