Riverside apartments in Reading get approval
209 flats will be built on the site of a former power station
Changes have been made to a project to build flats by the river in Reading.
Housebuilder the Berkeley Group has had plans to build 209 apartments on the south bank of the River Thames for years.
The project involves the demolition of the old power station previously owned by SSE so that eight new blocks containing apartments can be built.
While the project was approved by the government planning inspectorate back in March 2022, changes had to be made for it to comply with government fire regulations requiring buildings over 18 metres tall to have two staircases.
The changes were discussed by Reading Borough Council’s planning applications committee.
Caroline McHardy, a land director at Berkeley Homes, said that improvements brought by the development included the delivery of ‘high quality’ new homes, opening up the site for greater accessibility and promoting walking and cycling between Reading and Caversham.
The committee ultimately agreed that the benefits of the development outweighed the negatives.
Micky Leng, lead councillor for planning, acknowledged the ‘elephant in the room’ that the committee rejected the project in 2021.
However argued that some of the changes were ‘very beneficial’.
Heritage
Councillor Leng (Labour, Whitley) said:
“Let’s face it, it’s a pretty tired old industrial site, and I think they have been very sympathetic of keeping the character of an industrial type heritage, I congratulate them on that.”
Praised Berkeley Homes for employment initiatives at previous developments in Reading, and honouring the heritage of the site with building names such as The Turbine Hall, The Generator and The Coal Drop building.
Design changes meant that nine two-bed flats had to become one-bed flats instead to accommodate additional staircases required by law.
The development will now be made up of 70 one-bed, 127 two-bed and 12 three-bed flats.