Dangerous cladding to be removed from block of flats in Reading
The building houses key workers
Dangerous and defective cladding will be removed from a seven-storey block of flats for key workers in the town centre.
The combustible cladding, which poses a fire risk to residents, will be removed from Mayer House’s façade and replaced with non-combustible material, along with works to ensure the Chatham Place building is watertight.
The works are being funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government (MHCLG), who say the works are to be undertaken as a matter of priority due to the fire risk.
The £14.5 million block of affordable flats for key workers was built in 2008.
Housing association Catalyst Housing, which submitted the application, said the works are subject to significant time pressures and asked Reading Borough Council (RBC) to approve the plans speedily.
Newsteer, planning consultants for the works, said the development “aims to increase the life of the existing building through the removal and replacement of the dangerous and defective cladding and façade currently in place” and only necessary elements would be removed.
And they said the new weatherproof materials will further improve the longevity of the building.
The new materials will be as close as possible in design to the current cladding.
One Mayer House resident had raised concerns that the colour chosen for the cladding is “too dark and rustic”, saying the original colour was much lighter and chestnut is “outdated” for a modern town building and does not fit in with the area.
But planning officer Connie Davis said the materials would be of the same general appearance as the existing cladding.
She said, over time, the originally lighter cladding on the building has weathered and so has become darker and so replacing it with dark cladding would not result in substantial change in appearance compared to what the site looks like today.
And Ms Davis said the area has a varied street scene without a strong sense of design or colour pallet and therefore the new cladding “would not be considered at odds with, or cause detrimental impact to the appearance of the surrounding area.
Mayer House is the 17th tallest building in Reading according to high-rise data researchers Emporis.
The building is one of many in the town that need works to replace dangerous cladding, including buildings in the same area.
The council has approved plans to replace cladding at the following apartment blocks:
Q2, Watlington Street
The Honister and Hewitt buildings at Chatham Square, 20-40 Alfred Street
The Hunsaker, Hermitage, Halcyon, and Haywards buildings at Chatham Place, Alfred Street
The Meridian apartment block on Kenavon Drive
Queens Wharf, Queen’s Road
Works have also been submitted to replace cladding at Queens Wharf, on 47 Queen’s Road in Reading and at two hotels in the town centre.
There are also four buildings in Reading which were found to have Grenfell-type cladding.
The cladding has been replaced at three of these buildings:
Lawrence House (social housing)
Queen’s Court (student accommodation)
Crossway Point (social housing)
Works still need to be finished at Hanover House (private flats), but were granted planning permission in October 2020 and are set to be completed by the end of 2021.