Groundbreaking has taken place at Berkeley Homes’ 209-home scheme in Vastern Road, Reading.
Berkeley’s plans for the former SSE site, which include a new riverside walk, café and pedestrian and cycle links, will have a 30 per cent proportion of affordable homes which will be delivered as Rent-to-Buy properties by Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTVH).
The scheme comprises a mix of one to four-bedroom flats, spread across seven buildings, which range from one to 11 storeys. Designs are intended to reflect the site’s power station heritage.
The site has been redundant since the phased departure of SSE began in 2019. Berkeley Homes’ application was initially refused in 2021 but went through on appeal in 2022.
Elkie Russell, managing director, Berkeley Homes Oxford & Chiltern, said: “We are excited to transform this redundant brownfield space into a landmark place to live in the heart of Reading, delivering low carbon private and affordable homes alongside new public spaces for everyone to enjoy.
“The project will provide improved connectivity, along with greater public access, creating a shorter walk to Reading and the station for the wider community. This is brownfield regeneration at its best – we’re hugely proud to be working in partnership with Reading Borough Council, Homes England and Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing to transform this part of the town centre.”
The scheme also involves the creation of part of the north-south link between Christchurch Bridge and Vastern Road, part of a long-planned route connecting the river with Reading Station.
Cllr Micky Leng, Reading Borough Council’s lead councillor for planning (pictured fourth from right with shovel), said: “Residents will be aware that this development has been a long and sometimes complicated process. The original application was refused by our planning applications committee, only for that decision to be overturned at appeal – and then only finally being approved earlier this year.
“One of our priorities as a council is to encourage developments to deliver on much-needed affordable housing, and this site will now include 63 Rent-to-Buy homes. It is a brownfield industrial site and the regeneration of the vacant SSE site seeks to address all the aims for a sustainable development, which ties in with Reading’s net-zero carbon ambition in the form of renewable energy source.
“There is a welcome nod towards the heritage of the old power station site and I welcome the efforts, through design, to preserve the history of what is a significant site for Reading. I’m particularly pleased that this delivers on the missing link between Christchurch Bridge, the council’s pedestrian and cycle bridge over the Thames and the major commuter hub at Reading Station.”
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