Work is expected to start in June on the wholesale regeneration of Grade II-listed Caversham Park House in Reading.
Reading Borough Council’s planning applications committee voted to approve the plans, submitted in 2022 by Beechcroft Developments, to convert the 176-year-old building into 65 assisted living units and build an additional 64-bed care home, along with 68 further properties and leisure uses in June 2024, subject to the completion of a s106 agreement.
The s106 was finalised on January 30 and now Beechcroft hopes to complete the purchase of the site from the BBC, which vacated it in 2018, by the end of March so that work can begin work in June.
Chris Thompson, managing director of Beechcroft Developments, told Thames Tap: “We are relieved more than anything else. You start with a planning application, and if all goes well, it might take a year. This has taken a few but at last it feels like we are getting into the home straight.”
Mr Thompson said he expects building work to take between three and four years.
He said few schemes have attracted such a low level of opposition as the Caversham Park redevelopment and few were so well positioned for local services.
In addition to the care provision, some buildings on the 93-acre site will be demolished and satellite dishes removed for further homes, including:
- 29 homes for people aged over 55 to the east of the site
- 12 homes for over 55s to the north east
- 27 affordable homes to the west
A cricket pitch, croquet lawn and tennis court will be available for use and a pavilion extended to house a café and interpretation hub, created to allow the public to learn about the site and its history.
There will be public access around the perimeter and gardens for the first time. In Autumn and Winter, the public will have access from 7.45am – 4pm and from 7.45am – 8pm in Spring and Summer
It will be closed to the public on Christmas Day but open days will be held at the mansion twice a year.
Public access will be made available in Lowfield Road as well at the main entrance.
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