The Station Hill development has so far seen around 600 flats, called Ebb & Flow, and a massive new office building created between Friar Street and Garrard Street.
Now, the development consortium Lincoln MGT has submitted its plans for phase 3A of the project, which involves the creation of two buildings containing 600 apartments.
To clear the way for these new homes, Xafinity House in Greyfriars Road would have to be demolished.
The six-storey building was used as offices for the Sir Robert McAlpine contractors for Phase 2 of the development, which involved building One Station Hill.
Lincoln MGT wants to replace it with two new buildings called Plot AB, comprised of two interconnected blocks totalling 23 storeys and Plot D being a standalone 15-storey building.
In total, these buildings would provide 330 one-bed, 214 two-bed, 34 studios and 22 three-bed flats.
Of those, 75 will be designated as affordable, amounting to 12.5 per cent of the development.
These will be contained in Plot AB, and be ‘tenure blind’, meaning there will be no difference between these flats and the others provided within the development.
All of the flats provided will be built to rent.
Additionally, two commercial units will be created for businesses to hire.
The development is currently occupied by Siren Craft Brew, Notes Coffee Roasters & Bar and Flight Club, which opened today (Friday, May 1).
Justifying the project, a planning agent from DP9 Ltd wrote: “Station Hill has been a successful, award-winning development to date. The Applicant has taken great care and attention to deliver regeneration that benefits the wider community and enhances Reading as a town.
“They have undertaken huge social value initiatives and delivered building and a public realm that is of very high quality and unique to Reading.
“This application is the next phase of this Masterplan and will
further stitch Ebb&Flow and One Station Hill into the urban fabric.”
They went on to list benefits such as the creation of 1,184 sqm of public realm called Station Hill Gardens, a car-free development with limited parking for disabled people, and the delivery of 50 new trees.
The project has been submitted to Reading Borough Council as a reserved matters application, meaning development on the site was agreed in principle at a planning applications committee meeting in July 2021.
You can view the application by typing reference PL/26/0415 into the council’s planning portal.
Plans for a further block, called ‘Building C’, making up Phase 3B of the development, will be applied for at a later stage.
