It’s a good while since my last round-up post, so read on below for a quick rundown of Reading Town Centre news. As usual there’s plenty going on…
Continue reading “Autumn Town Centre Update”Autumn Town Centre Update
Retail
Reading regeneration schemes – Spring Update
As the days lengthen and mercury starts to climb, life is springing out of the ground. Although this year, as far as Reading’s major construction projects go, we have some cases of delayed germination. Right now, there’s only one crane following the sun around the town centre sky, despite no end of seeds planted. Let’s take a look at what’s going on…
Continue reading “Reading regeneration schemes – Spring Update”Town Centre Improvement Proposals – Do they hit the target?
A new strategy has been published by the council that looks at how best to enhance the town centre environment. The plans involve resurfacing pedestrian areas, reallocation of road space, and considerable landscaping proposals. It’s a creative-heavy document covering a design strategy, rather than specific funded and timetabled works, and it will go to a consultation initially. I’ve pulled out some of the imagery and details below.
Continue reading “Town Centre Improvement Proposals – Do they hit the target?”Oracle Proposals Updated
Revised plans have been published on The Oracle’s consultation website. For those who haven’t followed this story, the owners of the Oracle are seeking to bring forward a significant mixed use regeneration of the eastern end of their estate. The vacant Debenhams would be blocked off through the middle, across all three levels. Around half would remain as retail/leisure accessible through the mall, and half would give way to new primarily residential buildings. In a subsequent phase, the cinema building would be replaced with further flats, incorporating a smaller replacement Vue cinema at lower levels. I featured the scheme when it was submitted more than a year ago, so I’ll just cover the changes here.
Continue reading “Oracle Proposals Updated”September Round-Up: Arcades, Libraries, Pubs and more
A little while has passed since my last post, and in that time there have been many snippets of regeneration news that I could have been updating you on. Here’s a whistle-stop run through, so read on as I cover the potential reuse of three closed town centre pubs; plans for cells at Reading police station, if not yet the gaol; a closer look at the library; and maybe a few blocks of flats just for good measure.
Continue reading “September Round-Up: Arcades, Libraries, Pubs and more”Oracle East plans – detailed plans published
I’ve covered this major scheme already, but with the full plans now visible online we can see all the details. The proposed 449 build-to-rent apartments are split either side of the river, with 202 on the Debenhams side and 247 on the Vue side. The cinema stays but is reduced from 11 to 7 screens. The visual above shows the scheme from the east, with the buildings reducing down to five storeys at the London Street end, with rooflines vaguely echoing the former bus depot that many will remember from the site’s former life.
Continue reading “Oracle East plans – detailed plans published”Oracle East – Sizing it up
New concept proposals have been revealed for the eastern part of The Oracle, comprising the former Debenhams and current cinema sites. The idea has been put forward for consultation, but here I explore whether we can really afford to be too demanding in our response.
Continue reading “Oracle East – Sizing it up”Cosmo Corner – Future Friar Street
New proposals have emerged for a 103-home build-to-rent scheme adjacent to the Station Hill development on Friar Street. The developer, Shaviram Group, held an online consultation and has published materials online where you can provide your feedback. Here’s what I picked up on this latest residential plan for Reading town centre.
Continue reading “Cosmo Corner – Future Friar Street”Queen Victoria Courtyard Scheme Unveiled
On these pages, I’ve frequently emphasised the need to drive Reading’s offer forward, to keep the visitors from neighbouring towns coming, and therefore to underpin the overall vitality of the town centre. Yet I reflect now that perhaps the biggest competition to those aims is not Oxford, Basingstoke and Newbury, but rather Amazon, Deliveroo and Netflix. Will the Covid lifestyle stick, or will there be a collective clamour to return to the physical, or the “in real life”? Thankfully, whilst lockdowns have shut us all indoors, that hasn’t stopped the investors and architects forming new plans to haul us off our sofas and back into town.
Continue reading “Queen Victoria Courtyard Scheme Unveiled”After Covid…
Readers may know this blog promotes the town centre. In the current Covid predicament, clearly the economic health of the high street is far surpassed as a concern by the public health risks of the pandemic. This is not a rallying call to head to the shops at the present time. But perhaps it is a good point to be asking questions about how we might plan for when the sun rises on a post-Covid Reading.
Continue reading “After Covid…”
Reading-on-Thames 