04/08/2019

The smart motorway concept is much in evidence in the Thames Valley right now. Beth Wilson, senior consultant at transport planners and engineers, SYSTRA, based in Reading, weighs up the increasing arguments around their effects. In a world where technology is becoming more intelligent than us, with the likes of smartphones, smart TVs and even smart toothbrushes, just how ‘smart’ are smart motorways? Data obtained by Highways England suggests that congestion on our motorways and major road

04/02/2019

When law firm Blandy & Blandy LLP told us about its new website, we asked its chairman, Brenda Long, to explain how a 285-year-old practice continues to adapt and evolve in the digital world. Twenty years on from the era when websites were little more than sales brochures or online ‘signposts’, Blandy & Blandy says its has become one of its principal means of taking new instructions from clients. The Reading-based law firm and member of our UK Prop Social networking division, was established

03/19/2019

Almost 800 homes could be created in Berkshire by converting vacant commercial space, according to planning consultancy and Thames Tap partner, Turley. Turley calculates that if just half the vacant commercial space in the county was converted to residential, 779 homes could be delivered. If, in those developments, an additional floor could be added, the number doubles to 1,558. The figures were derived from research carried out by Turley for its latest report, Making Sense of Mixed-Use Town

03/08/2019

Most occupiers of commercial property will at some point need to work out what the market rent of their property is, either for a rent review or a renewal of their lease. Adam Schofield, associate at property consultants, Vail Williams, explains the increasingly important role of data in commercial property rents. It’s easy to work out the rental value on a property when you move in, as it has been on the open market, but what if it has been a few years? How do you go about working out the

03/04/2019

Barton Willmore experts weigh up the issues around the Oxfordshire Plan 2050. There may be a long way to go but is now the time to seize the opportunity? Set to establish ambitious objectives for housing and economic growth for the region over the next 30 years, preparation of the Oxfordshire Plan 2050 (previously known as the Joint Statutory Spatial Plan) will be challenging. Endorsed at the Oxfordshire Growth Board meeting last month, the publication of an issues and options paper

04/08/2019

After many false starts and years of unfulfilled promises, Station Hill, the bellwether project for the south east, is finally getting close to actually emerging. The combined forces of MGT Investment Management and Lincoln Property Company have come together and grafted their new designs onto the existing planning permission, granted by Reading Borough Council. Although with just 25,000 sq ft of commercial and leisure space, the latest application seeks to revise the first phase of consented

04/08/2019

Leading names in Newbury set out plans to boost its economy when more than 100 delegates gathered for the launch of town’s first economic development company. Guests for the breakfast seminar at Newbury Racecourse on Thursday, April 4, heard of plans to build on the town’s vision document, published last Autumn. Newbury West Berkshire Economic Development Company (EDC) has so far raised around £40,000 from private sector donations and is hoping, through further events, to encourage more.

04/08/2019

Plans have been submitted to replace three commercial buildings and a surface car park in the centre of Wokingham with 77 homes. Amersham based Lunar Office Sarl wants to redevelop 1980s buildings, Seymour House and numbers 3 & 4 The Courtyard and the 131-space Denmark Street car park behind, for a scheme of one, two and three bedroom flats in three blocks. Basement and surface parking will be provided for residents. Scores of objectors have already submitted their views, many about the loss