Worton Grange/Reading Gateway Development

[stewartt]

Current Status
Under Construction

I was driving by J11 this morning and was astonished to notice that the old HP buildings have been pretty much flattened. I obviously haven't been paying attention since I was sure they were there the other day. Presumably the owner wouldn't go spending money pulling the existing buildings down unless he has some need to replaces them, so does anyone know what is going to be built there? I've searched through the forum but I don't seem to be able to find any mention of it.

Thanks,
Stewart

[peterson]

http://www.reading-forum.co.uk/forum/vi ... =68&t=2485

see above topic Stewartt - it is quite old though and no news for a while. Surprised to hear they've demolished it - don't believe there is planning permission for anything yet? Maybe it's costing too much to keep secure.

[Les]

And of course, all the while that there is roof on the building, someone has to pay the rates (Sorry) Council Tax on it.

[marie]

And of course, all the while that there is roof on the building, someone has to pay the rates (Sorry) Council Tax on it.

Les, you were right with rates. Commercial property pay Business Rates, whilst domestic properties (residential) pay Council Tax...

[Les]

Thanks for that clarificatioon Marie. I also suspect that as that structure was built for purpose a good few years ago now, everything else having moved on it is now not very suitable for anything.

[james obrien]

The plans for 40 story towers was thrown out by the council, as it was not in the area of town destined for hi-rise buildings, (but we have a 400 foot wind turbine?) much to my dismay, as I like sky scrapers, as they are the only way to go, as I don't want to see the country covered with buildings. There will be two ten storey blocks and 500 apartments built on the site, which I believe have outline approval.

I think the buildings have been knocked down due to the empty lot tax. Though I could be wrong.

[james obrien]

The plans have been scaled down to 9 floors, this is not down to the council, but the public consultation had some negative responses, not by me though. Wharf Land and pushing this project as a district centre for South Reading as we don't have one. Caversham, Tilehurst and West Reading do have district centres. The stores and services that are in South Reading are scattered.

[Les]

I think the buildings have been knocked down due to the empty lot tax. Though I could be wrong.

Which is sort of like what I said I think James, and you can't really blame anyone for that can you, well apart frpm the LA.

[notjohn]

The older parts of those buildings where severely in need of work when HP moved out. Noone was going to move in unless money was spent on them.
Having waiting a while to see if there where going to be anyone interested the owners have built a new fence and knocked them down, except for the two story car park (which is was the newest part).

[chris_j_wood]

I guess I'm showing my age, because I was puzzled by the reference to HP. Then the light dawned; you are talking about DECpark. That bit of Reading will be forever Digital in my mind, just as I still think of Heelas and the Butts Centre.

I think the first buildings on the site (once called DECpark 1) must have dated from the very early 1980s, when Digital moved from their original UK HQ on London Road. The later DECpark 2 was certainly there by the end of the 1980s. So those buildings will be getting on for 30 years old and well past their design life.

The multi-level car park was much later, built to compensate for the large chunk of ground level car parking that was lost to the route of the A33 relief road. I would guess that would be in the late 1990s.

[Les]

Chris, you are not alone mate, I had to scratch my head to think where it was. (I'm still getting the splinters out of my fingers!)

[notjohn]

DECpark (built 1981) was briefly known as HP Worton Grange before it was shut.

BTW DEC was sold to Compaq in 1998 who then where bought by HP in 2002. DEC has been dead for over 10 years, and so has Heelas - do try and keep up.

There are videos of the demolition if you search.

[chris_j_wood]

I think the first buildings on the site (once called DECpark 1) must have dated from the very early 1980s, when Digital moved from their original UK HQ on London Road.

Having written that, it made me think. I'm quite sure that when I first came to Reading in 1977, Digital used to be based on the London Road. I think they were either in the office building at the eastern corner of the junction with Eldon Road, or possibly the one slightly further along that used to have the Cap & Gown in its basement. Can anybody confirm that and/or tell me which?.

Either way, it is interesting that, despite the stick they have had over the years, 1960s/70s office buildings are now routinely outlasting more modern buildings.

[stewartt]

I should have known better than refer to it as HP I guess - DEC was swallowed by Compaq about the same time as I moved to Reading though, so I probably never saw the buildings in their DEC guise and HP must have moved out of there not long after swallowing Compaq.

It is a relief to here that the massive towers are gone from the plan - I'm in favour of tall buildings in general, but I suppose I'm one of those dreadful nimbys that would rather not have them at the bottom of my otherwise leafy and suburban garden. For some reason I don't mind the windmill - it is quite theraputic to sit and watch it.

In terms of how long they lasted, those buildings must have been quite light weight. They went from standing in all of their derelict boarded up glory to flat in a matter of days as far as I can tell.

[peterson]

The site owners have applied for a "screening opinion" for a development of 150-300 houses, plus, more significantly, a 75,000 sq ft supermarket.

I don't quite know what a "screening opinion" is - I think it's just a chance for a developed to ask the council whether there's any major reasons why an application would be rejected before going through the hassle of submitting it. Someone might be able to explain better.

It doesn't say what the supermarket would be - my guess would be Asda.

I can't see the council being too keen on this idea - I thought they wanted a 'Landmark'/'Gateway'/insert-phrase-of-your-choice development there.

[Chris]

Residents in that area can already easily access Morrisons and Asda - what's the point?

This could only cause more people to come over from the other side of the M4, clogging up jc11 further.

[Riverside]

I think a Tesco is desparately needed here. The nearest one must be all the way to London Street surely?

[neoplasticman]

Would have liked an IKEA on this site. Save me from having to be dragged by the missus (with screaming children in tow) to Laandun or Brigstowe.

[Les]

Neither of which are exactly a fun day out in my opinion, although Brissle has the modifying attraction that my eldest daughter lives there. (Not at IKEA of course).

[peterson]

article on the Evening Post website:
http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/s/2067 ... _spotlight

I presume "rumours circulated on the internet" references here. But they've added a zero to the potential supermarket sq footage - that would be ludicrous.

The Post also talks about phase one and phase two, but clearly it is option one OR option two. The council wouldn't want a warehouse development on this hugely visible site - but a supermarket is hardly prestigious either so I wonder if the developer is positioning it as the lesser of two evils! I think a leisure complex of some sort would be ideal - ice rink / swimming pool / arena - such easy access to the motorway.

http://wortongrange.org/

[CavJohn]

That end of town must be a prime target for a Tesco Extra!

[notjohn]

That end of town must be a prime target for a Tesco Extra!

Why, is Chaversham full of Tesco already?

[OLDMAN]

I think the first buildings on the site (once called DECpark 1) must have dated from the very early 1980s, when Digital moved from their original UK HQ on London Road.

Having written that, it made me think. I'm quite sure that when I first came to Reading in 1977, Digital used to be based on the London Road. I think they were either in the office building at the eastern corner of the junction with Eldon Road, or possibly the one slightly further along that used to have the Cap & Gown in its basement. Can anybody confirm that and/or tell me which?.

Either way, it is interesting that, despite the stick they have had over the years, 1960s/70s office buildings are now routinely outlasting more modern buildings.

I thought someone would have replied to this but as not - yes you are correct, in fact HP built the building and one of the concessions was they had to replace the old Berkshire arms on that site hence the appearance of the Cap and Gown

At that time official they where the landlords as it was part of their building although obviously it was a managed house run by the old Wetherheads brewery

Not sure what happened about that side of it when they moved nor if they still own the building as they did for a while after moving and rented it to other users

Before that it was some derelict house and an old office block along that stretch

[peterson]

so the warehouse plans have been submitted and approved:

http://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/ ... new-depot/

I'm surprised they've ended up with that. I expected something higher density on that site. When the economy improves this might be seen as a site that we didn't make the most of...

[Pooneil]

Received this week (it's dated 12/1/12) an invitation (nominally from Mike Murray of Worton Grange Industrial Ltd) by hand delivered mail to "The Occupier", to attend a public exhibition .
Excerpts include "We have been granted permission for warehouses to be built in this location, however as a result of a number of public exhibitions in the past, we now feel that a mixed use development provides a much better opportunity locally."

"Briefly our proposals for Worton Grange include:
* Up to 300 residential units
* Up to 100,000 sq ft gross retail space (to include a supermarket)
* Potential for hundreds of new jobs for local people
* Parking spaces to accommodate both a supermarket and proposed new residents on site
* Bus interchange facility to help regulate the service in the local area
* A wide range of house types accessible to all including a proportion of apartments
* Potential community buildings and facilities to meet local needs"

The exhibition will apparently be at St Agnes Church Hall on Northumberland Avenue, Friday 3rd Feb (Noon-7pm), and Saturday 4th Feb (10am-4pm).

Allegedly Mr Murray will be there with the architects and other members of the project team. "This is a genuine opportunity to influence what happens."

Apparently details of the exhibition will be available on a dedicated website, http://www.wortongrange.org, and copies of the proposals and feedback forms will be available on the website from 10am on Friday 3rd Feb. (The website was "coming soon" when I looked at it earlier today).


I hate to be a cynical old git, but whenever I see phrases like "This is a genuine opportunity to influence what happens.", I always think exactly the opposite (in the same way that pubs that promise things like "Fine Ale" and "Good Food" usually deliver the opposite - it's like if you have to tell me that your food is good and your ale is fine, I can only presume it's not obvious to the palate.)

And "Potential community buildings and facilities to meet local needs" - that word "potential" (when nothing else is "potential", but seemingly a done deal) smacks of "things we have to promise to get planning permission/the locals on one side, but will find excuses to scale back or cancel once we have the green light."

Oh yes, and "Up to 100,000 sq ft gross retail space (to include a supermarket)" - given the site is about a nine-iron from their proposed distribution centre on the old brewery site, anybody want to bet against the supermarket being anything other than Tosscos?

[OLDMAN]

They said about this on Reading 107 this morning and it’s a news story

http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/s/2106 ... ckard_site

[johnH]

getReading
By David Millward
February 09, 2012


Sarah Thorneycroft, Scott Paton, Tom Byrne and Kevin Watson at the public exhibition

Plans for a 300-home development with a supermarket have been broadly welcomed by visitors to a public exhibition. Householders in the Whitley area were invited to a display of the proposals for the old Hewlett Packard site in Worton Grange. Up to 600 jobs could be created by the development, which also includes plans for a bus interchange and a community building.....

getReading Support for Worton Grange housing development

[Weeby-Vuit]

On Saturday morning this leaflet landed on my door mat.

Very interesting, and they provided a form requesting some feedback on their plans:

Front


Back

[Cranegod]

Parking?

Well....... they do recognise that a lot of these dwellings will have ownership of more than one car...

....dont they?

[buseng]

Parking?

Well....... they do recognise that a lot of these dwellings will have ownership of more than one car...

....dont they?

That's the last thing on the Council's mind, more congestion=close more roads to traffic & put up more fairylights. Right up their street.

[OLDMAN]

Well that’s just stupid - Worton Grange is a stand alone piece of land and there are parking restrictions on all the roads around it - they are putting parking in for all the properties as I have seen the plans from previous, nd that’s the norm on new builds these days - usually 2 per place

And how / WHY would they close any roads as none of them will be through roads once built

You get plenty of congestion on match days just there (but that only lasts for a couple of hours and not that often) – and they haven’t closed any roads due to that but………


Where are all those fans going to park once built, they will lose that car park – now that needs serious thought from RBC

[Urban myth]

Might add weight to getting Green Park station built

[zag]

Looks like a nice design.

[Warren]

This site has existing planning permission for warehouse and distribution.

[Bannock]

Should have been the IKEA site. J11 already improved, site cleared and ready. Ah well. Wonder why IKEA didn't see it that way?