Reading, Slough, High Wycombe, Staines, Maidenhead, Windsor, Bracknell

[Madman]

^so true. When i went to the V&A i was enjoying its splendid new garden until i found out soon enough it was funded by the man himself with his name plastered seemingly everywhere (he could at least got it named after his mother/father....).

[Marky_boy]

I saw in that UK summary thread that the tallest on Station Hill will be 117 metres high, very impressive for town of Reading's size. I don't see anything like that happening in the self-proclaimed capital of the south, Southampton. Reading will obviously be retaining their Premiership status, and possibly be hosting European football next season, has there been any word on the stadium extention and what will the capacity increase to?

[peterson]

the tallest building, a 32-storey residential is still planned to be 117m with the refined scheme I believe. This and an office tower of just over 100m will form the first phase. Two further phases will follow with buildings up to 20 storeys high, but nothing approaching 100m. Madejski insists the new scheme will not bear his name!!

The Madejski stadium will be expanded. It was built in such a way that it can be expanded without demolishing existing stands, and even without reducing capacity during construction. Work starts this summer on the East stand to increase capacity to nearly 30k by summer '08. The recent planning permission also cover extensions to the North and South stand that, if built, would bring capacity to around 37,000. This would effectively 'complete' the stadium and further expansion would be difficult - not to mention unlikely to be necessary for a town of Reading's size.

On the downside, it looks like the huge Station Hill proposals have put off the backers of another scheme the 15-storey Abbey Mill House. This was due to have begun speculative development but it looks like it's being reconsidered. With Madejski behind it though, it looks like the Station Hill project will make it off the drawing board

[peterson]

summary of developments:

[gothicform]

oooh so thats what they were demolishing for abbey road house. wondered what was happening there. this helps me put everything in its place.

[Marky_boy]

Seems like city centre living is really taking off in Reading, Chatham Place has been under contruction for a while, hopefully it will have a positive effect on the crime-ridden Oxford Road area. Liking the look of that 22-storey block too.

[peterson]

Chatham Street has been going a while now. The car park is supposed to be opened this year (really needs to be before Garrard St car park is knocked down for Station Hill).

The real positive regenerative effects of Chatham Street will be from the next phase. It's all gone fairly quiet on that front and I can't see the office-led finding much favour at the moment. If it does go ahead buildings will be constructed actually on top of the dual-carriageway. By covering over that whole section of road it is hoped to break the concerte barrier that has deprived the Oxford Road area from the regeneration that the town centre has enjoyed.

But really it's all about Station Hill at the moment. I think the other potential office developers have taken one look at that and said, to paraphrase, 'oh dear'. If they can let 24 commercial storeys in a town where the out-of-town parks hoover up the vast majority of new lettings it will be a huge achievement

[ChrisH]

I went to take a look at Chatham Place this afternoon, here are some photos (context map):

1: view from the south - IDR dual carriageway just to the right and in trench

2: view from Oxford Road bridge over IDR

3: from below the trees on the left of photo 2

4: slightly closer in than photo 3

5: view from Eaton Place - car park under construction

6: plan (1)

7: plan (2)

8: plan (3)

9: view of the current Oxford Road bridge - tatty

[peterson]

chrishillcoat,
do you know whether they've begun work on the main apartment building? I think those buildings may just be the car park and the smaller affordable homes block.

in other news, Abbey Mill House has finally started with some ground works going on now

[wearethefuture]

Anything happening in terms of developments in Staines? I went to Feltham the other day, god that placed has changed since i last went there!

[ChrisH]

Originally Posted by peterson

chrishillcoat,
do you know whether they've begun work on the main apartment building? I think those buildings may just be the car park and the smaller affordable homes block.

in other news, Abbey Mill House has finally started with some ground works going on now

I think you're right - I haven't been along Chatham Street to see progress at the north end, but it doesn't look like anything's been started on the commercial apartments. Does anyone know the timescale for completion of this project?

[peterson]

John Madejski's Sackville have now purchased the Friar's Walk shopping centre in Reading. This failed shopping mall, once home to C&A but now boarded up, forms a key link between the town centre and the Station Hill site that Sackville is proposing to redevelop in a 500m high rise scheme. Sackville plan to knock down the arcade and replace it with a modern mixed-use building forming an entrance to the new development. Planning will begin once Sackville get outline approval for their main Station Hill scheme, expected to be this summer

[Rational Plan]

Just a couple of plans announced for Slough and Staines.

The new retail warehouse strip they are building on top of the Old Co-op stores is under construction. Revised application details have chaged this to a partial development on stilts like the huge TESCO's. The new food stroe will noe be 36,000 sq ft, plus three other retail units. The big news is that the occupier is likely to be Whole Foods of the US. So their second store in the UK after Kensington will be in Slough! Not so odd when you consider how wealthy the surrounding areas are.

Staines seems to be gearing up for the next round of office devlopment, it must have finally rented out all old stock left over from the Dot com boom.

Two proposals for the Town here.

The most advanced is the Majestic House site. With the exception of the Old Garbaldi pub, this will level the North side of the High street between the iron bridge and the Post office. This is a big scheme with 290,000 sq ft of space 500 car park spaces, ground floor retail and 25 appartments around the back.

A new link road will be built aroudn the back of the site to access the small trading estate. This will remove a big source of congestion to the town as the current estate is accessed by a small road right next to the railway bridge, just a the main road narrows. What will replace the hodge podge of Post war and inter war buildings will be seven storey office block. This will be a glass and reconstituted stone building. It's not that exciting, but for Staines it is quite a step up in design quality. It reminded me a bit of the recent trend for irregular placed vertical bands of stone that you see in quite a lot of London office buildings recently. I'd post a picture but I can't seem to get photbucket to find my adobe picture files. Anyway several shops have been closed already and stripping out seems to have begun on some buildings.

Further East along London Road the Old Centrica office building is being boarded up. Currently the it is the site of a monolithic ten storey brown glass 70's tower with a restaurant pod hovering over the grassed over underground parking. It creates quite a dead strip along that stretch of the road.

At the moment an outline application has gone for the whole site to be raised and much more dense scheme to replace it. Three new buildings would occupy the site above a new underground car park. There would be 200,000 of office space and a new 200 room hotel around a new pedestrian piazza, supposedly filled with restaurants.

I'm not sure about this one. While the new piazza would provide a more direct pedestrian route to the Moormede estate, I think this plaza could end up being dead. It is away from the main retail and resturant areas of the town and only has a relatively small entrance from the main road. While there are plenty of office building nearby able to support a lunchtime trade I'm not sure about evening trade. Most of the other restuarants are either near the river or the Multiplex. Unless that underground car park becomes a public car park it is also a long walk where everyone parks in the evening.

[ChrisH]

The announcement about Reading station's redevelopment is only one part of the upgrades to transport and commercial developments in Reading. Below is a map I've knocked together showing some of these:



Blue lines are road improvements:
- M4 J11 rebuilding with two new bridges and public transport priority.
- IDR (inner distribution road) made one-way with improvements for cyclists, pedestrians and public transport.
- Third Thames crossing east of the town, with a bypass of Caversham. This is very much up in the air, no funding has been secured as yet.
- New bridge under the railway, west of the centre, and new link roads. Part of the station area redevelopment scheme.
- Link road from the A33 to the A4 at M4 J12. Part of the Kennet Valley Park scheme.
- Several new park&ride sites (marked as P).

Red asterisks are rail improvements:
- Reading station rebuilding.
- New station at Green Park.

Purple lines are the proposed Mass Rapid Transit network (initially bus-based, but initially envisaged as tram-based).

Green areas are commercial developments. From west to east:
- Kennet Valley Park, a huge scheme providing up to 7,500 new homes over a 25-year period. See the masterplan.
- Green Park Village, an extension of the existing Green Park business park but providing homes as well as offices.
- Southside Reading, a residential/commercial scheme spanning the A33 and providing yet more housing and office space! See their masterplan.
- In the city centre, Chatham Place is ongoing and will eventually provide new apartments and public space, as well as a 600-space carpark.
- The Civic Centre is due for redevelopment, replacing a rather ugly 1960s building on the site at present.
- Station Hill is a 1.4m sqft planned mixed-use development including some towers up to 28 stories.
- New apartments have been planned also at Kenavon Drive.

Chris

[LDN_EUROPE]

SLOUGH - It looks like the Thames Valley is really powering forward at the moment. The famous "Heart of Slough" project has also been given the go ahead with estimates of work starting as early as 2008!!

pic from answers.com

pic from www.slough.gov.uk

pic from Reid Architecture: http://www.archsearch.co.uk/uP14E1eg...ces/146/1.html

Heart of Slough


Background
In February 2006, English Partnerships announced a funding package of £17.52m for the Heart of Slough regeneration scheme. Initiated by Slough Borough Council, the project aims to regenerate 11.75 ha of land in the town centre mainly owned by the Borough Council and Thames Valley University. The area encompasses Brunel Bus Station, the existing library, the church square and parts of the University itself.

English Partnerships’ funding will enable Slough Borough Council to conclude the development agreement with its partners Development Securities and Berkeley Homes. The Heart of Slough scheme will help to create an attractive gateway to the town as well as improving its infrastructure and environment. This will include the provision of more than 1,300 high-quality homes, 22,000 sq m of office space, a new bus station, revised road layout, public recreation spaces plus a new library and community facilities.

Current Status
Slough Borough Council and English Partnerships are working with Berkeley Homes and Development Securities to deliver the scheme, which will lead to a total investment of over £200m.

To date, external funding brought in by the Heart of Slough scheme includes:

A Creative Industries Enterprise Hub funded by SEEDA at Thames Valley University;
£3m European Equal funding for work on creative initiatives with disadvantaged communities;
£106,000 from South East Arts for Art at the Centre
http://www.englishpartnerships.co.uk...B766CA811D7067

[LDN_EUROPE]

READING - Its not ONLY the wonderful Slough that is doing so well at the moment... other parts of the Thames Valley are also developing fast:


Reading Central gets green light
15:04 | 17.09.07

Reading Central – the biggest office development ever planned in Reading – got the go-ahead at a council meeting last week.
http://www.propertyweek.com/story.as...de=3095507&c=1

[peterson]

I'm not particularly excited by Reading Central. I don't think its gonna be the best looking building around. Though it should make a fairly impressive horse-shoe of modern and old buildings around Forbury Gardens.


Abbey Mill House now underway, hopefully start rising soon:
image hosted on flickr


11 storey Chatham Place flats going up too. New car park at the development opens shortly:
image hosted on flickr

[gothicform]

good stuff. peterson, the kings point scheme is 52m tall by the way.

[LDN_EUROPE]

MAIDENHEAD - Berkshire strikes again!

This time Maidenhead [The Head] (not to be outdone by its more famous neighbours Slough [The Office] and Windsor [The Castle]) is redeveloping its town centre!!!

Maidenhead Town Centre - Towards 2026
Working in partnership to make a good town even better
http://www.rbwm.gov.uk/web/consultat...own_centre.htm




More Shopping
The three potential locations for new shops could be for a range of variety, fashion and household goods, cafés and restaurants (food stores are forecast to be well catered for in the years to come, thanks to expansions by existing stores, e.g. Sainsbury's and Waitrose). The new shops could be in mixed developments, with some car parking on site and with office space or residential units on upper floors.

West Street
The new shops could overlook Kidwell's Park and be connected to the High Street by a new pedestrian route. West Street itself could remain a service route, hidden from view by new shop units. New development at the Castle Hill roundabout could improve views of the town centre.
Broadway
The proposals could involve redeveloping the existing multi-storey car park to link new shops directly with the Nicholsons Shopping Centre. There could be an arcade leading to Queen Street and a new square by the Grenfell Island development.
East end of the High Street
Revitalising this area is key to improving town centre connections to the river, starting at the York Stream. The proposals could create a public square around the York Stream, with a cluster of new shops, cafés and restaurants overlooking it, and with other nearby changes to improve pedestrian routes into the town centre.
Pivotal Areas
Maidenhead Station
The arrival of Crossrail services from central London will provide the opportunity to create a station square - a better transport interchange - with direct pedestrian routes to the station. There could also be a flagship hotel and office development over the platforms, and replacement car parking nearby.
Approach to Maidenhead Bridge
While the town's riverside image rests on the beauty of Maidenhead Bridge, it is let down by the approach to it from the town centre and its immediate setting. The proposals suggest a new hotel or residential development on the prominent corner, as well as changing the road's central reservation to create a grander tree-lined boulevard. The Moor Arches area on Moorbridge Road could also be improved to strengthen this main route to the river.
Supporting sites
York Road, St Ives Road, Park Street and Grove Road
This area has an important supporting role in the future of the town centre. There are opportunities to provide replacement car parking, new residential development, office space and public spaces, revitalising the civic area together with consideration of proposals for the York Stream from the Maidenhead Waterways Restoration Group. The football and bowling clubs could be relocated to land south of Stafferton Way, where they would have improved facilities and still have good public access.

[LDN_EUROPE]

BRACKNELL - The UKs 2nd favourite new town (after Milton Keynes) is not wanting to be left home by its Berkshire competition and also entering the race to develop its town centre.

It EVEN has it OWN WEBSITE!!! http://www.changebracknell.com/

Town plan: http://www.changebracknell.com/_downloads/townplan.pdf

Keeping you up to date around townFull Steam Ahead To Regenerate Bracknell Town Centre
21/09/07

Plans for the £750 million regeneration of Bracknell town centre took a step forward last night (Thursday), when the Planning and Highways Committee of Bracknell Forest Borough Council granted permission for variations to the initial outline planning permission secured by the Bracknell Regeneration Partnership.

New shops, restaurants, cafes and bars as well as homes, business accommodation and improved public open spaces are included in the proposals. The regeneration will also deliver highway and public transport improvements, and new public buildings, including a larger town centre library.

Cllr Paul Bettison, Leader of Bracknell Forest Borough Council, said: “The regeneration is in sight and we are looking forward to seeing the much needed transformation of Bracknell town centre in the near future.

David Gregory, Development Manager at BRP, added: “This consent takes the team another step closer to starting the regeneration project. We are now progressing the designs for the retail development in the north of the town. We are hard at work behind the scenes on the many details required for the development and we thank Bracknell residents for their continued support for the regeneration.”

Whilst BRP works towards starting on site progress is being made on a number of other key developments set to change the face of Bracknell.

Designs are now being drawn up for the replacement of the key public buildings that will have to be moved to make way for the regeneration scheme, including the police, Magistrates’ Court, Royal British Legion, council offices and Bracknell Library.

Nicholas Hare Associates have been selected as the architects for the new civic centre. The highly regarded company has been responsible for projects such as the Oval Basin in Cardiff and the Royal Courts in Guernsey.

Construction work has started on the £36 million redevelopment of Bracknell and Wokingham College in the town centre.

Howard O’Keefe, Principal and Chief Executive of the College, said: “Our vision is of a new campus, a world class facility of which all local people can be proud and from which they will benefit. The design of the new building is modern and distinctive, making a fitting backdrop to the “eastern gateway” to Bracknell town centre as it approaches regeneration.”

Plans are also being developed to rebuild Garth Hill College to the south of Bracknell town centre with a decision by the Council’s Executive to go-ahead with the procurement of the £33 million project.

Elsewhere in the town centre, Camp Moss Properties Ltd has submitted a planning application for the redevelopment of properties in Market Street, which is now being considered by the Council. Provided the scheme complies with outline planning permission, this could bring a much-needed facelift to this part of town.

Ed Goodwin, Managing Director, said: “We have now submitted our planning application for a mixed-use development, which will create new business, retail, leisure and homes on one of the major sites in the town centre. If we are successful in our planning application, we would hope to make a start as soon as possible in the New Year. We are extremely excited about our proposed development and believe it will create a modern and innovative frontage for the western approach to the new Bracknell town centre.”

Two weeks ago the owners of the former 3M building, Comer Homes, also released pictures of their proposals to demolish the existing building and replace it with luxury apartments. Any scheme would need to provide for the existing indoor market and fit within the overall master plan for the area. This is another clear sign of commitment to the regeneration of Bracknell town centre.

The former Met Office roundabout is also being transformed with the new Celsius development.

Visitors will already have seen signs of the regeneration starting to happen, with ground investigations works being carried out in bore holes across the town centre. The important work will establish the make-up of the earth beneath the town centre ahead of construction beginning.

Both BRP and the Council are working hard to make Bracknell a successful and vibrant town even before the regeneration. New national brands have recently been attracted to the town centre by BRP including Bay Trading with Dolcis, Miss Selfridge, BBs Coffee and Muffins, Caffé Nero in Bentalls, and Thorntons.
Home Regeneration Infrastructure Deliverability Sustainability Retail Potential Location Spending Power News Contact Downloads Latest News21/09/07
Full Steam Ahead To Regenerate Bracknell Town Centre
11/09/07
Bracknell Flowers Continue to Bloom
10/09/07
Geotechnical work gets the thumbs up from Borough Mayor
View ArchiveBracknell.com Events12/09/07
TERRY BROOKS - Booksigning in Waterstone's, Bracknell Thursday 20 Sept