KENT and Medway are set to become the region's property hot spots in the next few years after successfully weathering the September 11 storm.

That was the message from experts at the launch of the county's annual commercial property review.

The breakfast event was hosted by BT in its new multi-million pound Workstyle building in Sevenoaks.

Karen Debax-Latour, of BT eLocations, said her company was investing £6 million in Kent and Medway eLocations, a tenth of BT's total national investment in these hi-tech "wired" business sites of which there are five in the county.

The county needed to offer high-quality property and communications, and market itself as a "quality location," she said.

"I believe we have an opportunity to create the next significant European business district here in Kent. In the next few years, we will see Kent become THE property hotspot in the United Kingdom."

Launching the survey, Cllr Alex King, Kent County Council's Cabinet member for regeneration, said that despite September 11, there was ongoing strength in the county.

"It demonstrates how much this part of the world has been firmly embedded in the south east property market as a location that provides a real alternative to the overheated Western Corridor," he said.

In a round-up of the commercial property market, Julian Wilkinson of Cluttons, a co-sponsor of the review along with Kent County Council, Locate in Kent and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, said Kent was "the current and future place for occupiers, investors and developers".

There was strong investment interest across the county, with many properties snapped up quickly. The main problem lay in the shortage of modern industrial premises to satisfy demand.

Prospects for economic growth were unique within the south east, he said. Flagship business parks such as Kings Hill, West Malling, and Crossways, Dartford, had outperformed the regional market in the past year. There had been "robust demand and high take-up levels".

He said: "The future for Kent appears bright and the them of last year was one of Kent quietly out-performing on many fronts.

"The signs are that it's got the product, it's got the critical mass, the investment and communications infrastructure to really bring it up to the aspirational levels of the M4 and M3."