NEWS

The latest property stories coming out of the Thames Valley

03/12/2018

Judges name finalists for Oxfordshire's top property awards

The first shortlist identifying the finest talent among Oxfordshire’s property industry has been published. A total of 24 finalists have made it onto the Oxfordshire Property Awards shortlist, from which the winners will be announced at a sold-out black tie dinner on April 18, the climax to the inaugural Oxfordshire Property Festival. Judges met last Friday, March 9 at Blenheim Palace to draw up the list from dozens of entries. The diversity and quality of both projects and individuals put
03/12/2018

View from the riverbank: Just do it

The debate over the Green Belt has intensified since prime minister Theresa May announced planning reforms. But the subject was already alive at our round table event, the last reports on which are included in this week's newsletter. The call for brownfield development before Green Belt development is becoming something of a politician's cliche but our experts have long argued that poor quality land within the Green Belt should be made available for employment sites which have been losing out
03/12/2018

Three more occupiers at Thames Tower

Three new occupiers have signed up for Thames Tower in Reading, taking the total to 10. MBNL, a broadband service from EE and Three with managed services provided by Ericsson, will move its offices from Amersham to 14,000 sq ft on the sixth floor of the Landid/Brockton Capital development. Architectural practice Broadway Malyan will move its Theale office 4,750 sq ft on the fifth floor alongside Clarkslegal, which took 8,550 sq ft in late 2017. And the Make-A-Wish Foundation charity which
03/12/2018

Hundreds of homes planned at historic Sunningdale Park Hotel

A remarkable planning application for the redevelopment of one of the most significant hotels in modern history into hundreds of homes has been submitted to the Royal Borough. The Sunningdale Park Hotel was the historic venue of talks which led to the signing of the ill-fated and short-lived Sunningdale Agreement in December 1973 on the future of Northern Ireland. It set up a power-sharing executive in the province but the deal collapsed the following May after 14 days of strike action by
03/09/2018

205 homes planned for Farnborough

More than 200 homes may be built on the site of IBM’s former offices at Farnborough. Plans have been submitted to Rushmoor Borough Council by London Wall Outsourcing Investments, through agent GL Hearn, to build a mix of 32 houses and 173 flats on the 2.1-hectare site of Meudon House on Meudon Avenue. Plans include demolition of the vacant building for one block of 93 one-bedroom flats and another of 80 two-bedroom flats. There will also be 32 three-bedroom townhouses and the development will
03/08/2018

Lexicon footfall exceeding forecasts

Bosses at The Lexicon Bracknell have increased its first year’s footfall projection after a positive report by retail consultants. Research by FSP Retail Business Consultants has suggested the regenerated town centre is the ‘destination of choice’ for 61 per cent of people living in the catchment, up from 17 per cent in the opening weeks last September. Now, six months on, Bracknell Regeneration Partnership has raised its projected footfall for its first year from 12 million, forecast at the
03/07/2018

Motes and planks: who is really to blame for the housing shortage?

Nigel Hewitson, planning partner at BrookStreet des Roches, weighs up whether prime minister Theresa May's comments about developers during her March 5 speech on the planning reforms were entirely justified. We are regularly told that, as a country, we are not building enough homes. There is widespread acceptance that, to meet demand, the UK needs to build about 300,000 new homes a year. Yet for years we have built, at best, half that number. The result is ever higher property prices which
03/07/2018

More retailers set to shut up shop

Reading’s retail scene is set for more dramatic changes this year. In the final discussion from the Thames Tap round table on February 2, Fiona Brownfoot, retail partner at Hicks Baker, told guests to expect more CVAs (Company Voluntary Arrangements) in 2018 as the high street continues to evolve at pace, caused largely by increasing online shopping. And she predicted the next round of store losses would be New Look, which has since announced closures of its two Reading stores and its branch

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Independent Property
NEWS & VIEWS

Reporting daily from the Thames Valley tvproperty.co.uk

News

Judges name finalists for Oxfordshire's top property awards

View from the riverbank: Just do it

Three more occupiers at Thames Tower

Hundreds of homes planned at historic Sunningdale Park Hotel

205 homes planned for Farnborough

Lexicon footfall exceeding forecasts

Motes and planks: who is really to blame for the housing shortage?

More retailers set to shut up shop