New apartment complex proposed for central Reading
Developers say it could create a new destination area alongside the Thames
A new ‘destination area’ could be created on the riverside in Reading as an office block is set to be replaced with more than 250 apartments.
The Norman Place office building on the south bank of the River Thames, located off Vastern Road has been vacant for years since the coronavirus pandemic.
Plans show Norman Place replaced with new apartments with developers hoping to create a ‘destination area’ for residents present and future.
Apartment providers Packaged Living and the Bridges Fund Management investment company are hoping to knock down Norman Place after acquiring the office building in July last year.
In its place, the developers want to build approximately four blocks around sevenstoreys tall, containing a total of 254 ‘high-quality river-facing rental apartments’.
The developers want to open the Thames riverside up to the public so that more people can enjoy the waterfront location, with the project being dubbed ‘Waterfront Place’.
A CGI shows people enjoying themselves by the river, with a publicly accessible cafe at ground level. The developers have pledged to plant 61 trees as part of the project, including trees at the riverside, and maintaining the mature trees lining Vastern Road.
Thriving
Packaged Living COO Mark Woodrow said:
“We are delighted to have worked with hundreds of local stakeholders including Reading Borough Council to propose replacing an obsolete and vacant office block with a thriving new community around a new Waterfront public square on the Thames.
“Historically industrial and office buildings have turned their back on the Thames in central Reading.
“Instead we propose to make this a valued and enjoyable public asset for the town – whether you are a resident in the development, a dog walker, a cyclist, or on your lunch break.
“We will create a place to pause, meet, relax, and enjoy.”
The developers have touted the ‘environmental and social value is at the heart of the scheme’ which involves energy efficiency measures and embodied carbon being minimised through the building material selection process.
High-Quality
Bridges director Celia Harrison said:
“In Reading, as in many other settlements across the UK, there is a clear shortage of high-quality new homes to satisfy rental demand.
“Across the Bridges platform, we are already on course to deliver over 3,000 much-needed new homes, and we’re excited by the opportunity to bring forward well-designed, highly sustainable homes alongside new improved public spaces at Waterfront Place.”
Plans have been submitted to Reading Borough Council, with the developers providing reference code PL/24/0958.
Packaged Living has also been appointed as the provider and manager of the project to build 436 apartments at The Oracle, in partnership with the centre owners Hammerson.