Abbey Gardens is a prominent seven-storey office building in Kings Road which is largely vacant.
The owning company is moving forward with a project to convert it into 229 apartments, and has recently won permission for external changes to make it into a place to live.
That is just one of the applications that have been decided by Reading Borough Council recently.
Elsewhere, plans are moving forward for a new family home in the university area, and changes are coming to a restaurant in Caversham that has been dormant for three years.
You can view each approved application by typing the reference in brackets into the council’s planning portal.
External changes to convert offices into apartments (PL/26/0091)
McGrath Group, which owns the Abbey Gardens offices, is moving forward with its project to transform it into 229 flats.
Plans for the development emerged last year, which involve the conversion and extension of the complex to turn it into a place to live.
The company will also revitalise the exterior of the building with new windows, brickwork and balconies to make it more suitable for future occupants.
Planning officer Jonathan Markwell judged the project to be acceptable, crucially in terms of access to daylight.
Progress for new family home in university area (PL/25/0620)
The design for the new self-built family home in Upper Redlands Road, Reading. (Image: Ascot Design)
A landowner’s project to build a new family home in East Reading can officially go ahead.
A plan has existed for some time to build on an unoccupied walled garden in Upper Redlands Road, with the site being located near New Road and Wantage Hall.
The site subject of a plan for a new home in Upper Redlands Road, Reading. Credit: Google Maps
A project for a new self-built four-bed home was debated and ultimately approved by the council’s planning applications committee in September last year.
A condition of this was that the developer enter into a Section 106 legal agreement with the council determining the rules of the project.
This agreement was completed on June 10.
Flats behind defunct restaurant in Caversham (PL/19/1530)
The Spice Oven Indian and Chinese restaurant in Church Street, Caversham. Credit: James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporting Service
Flats are set to be created to the rear of the The Spice Oven restaurant in Church Street, which permanently closed in 2023.
The project involves creating two two-bed and two-one bed flats through the part-demolition of the rear of the restaurant and the construction of a two-storey house.
Mystery surrounds closure of buffet restaurant in Caversham
The plan was submitted as far back as 2019, but the latest documents were submitted in April this year.
The developer signed a S106 agreement with the council on June 10.
Convenience store set to be converted into a flat (PL/25/0813)
The No1 Convenience Store in Elgar Road, Katesgrove. (Image: Reading Borough Council)
The No 1 Convenience Store in Elgar Road, Katesgrove, is set to be converted into a flat.
The existing building consists of the store and an existing flat above.
The owner has won permission to convert the store into a two-bed ground-floor flat, and create space for a three-bed flat upstairs.
The building is a stone’s throw from the Bally Convenience Store, which was previously the Kennet Arms pub.
