NEWS

The latest property stories coming out of the Thames Valley

01/03/2018

Urban market plan recommended for approval

Broad Street Mall’s plans for an urban market made from shipping containers has been recommended for approval. As we reported in August 2017, mall owners, Inception Holdings, submitted an application to create the temporary market for a period of five years on the ‘South Court’ area at the back of the shopping centre. However, when the application was heard by Reading Borough Council’s planning applications committee in September it was deferred so councillors could get more information
01/03/2018

765 flats in Kenavon Drive, Reading recommended for approval

L&Q’s plans for 765 flats on the site of Reading’s Homebase and former Toys R Us stores go before councillors on Wednesday, January 10 with a recommendation for approval. Reading Borough Council’s planning applications committee has been recommended to grant permission or to refuse it if a section 106 agreement is not signed by January 24. The development involves demolition of both the Homebase and the, now vacant, Toys R Us units in Kenavon Drive and the construction of several buildings of
12/19/2017

Can't wait until January? Try our printed edition

The last weekly Thames Tap of 2017 was published on Monday, December 18 but you can still get some property news from the Thames Valley by taking a look at the Winter edition of the quarterly Thames Tap, the second edition of our printed publication. It is now online here so feel free to have a look and, if you'd like to drop us a line about anything, we will be checking emails occasionally if there are any quiet periods over the Christmas and New Year holiday. If not, or if we get too merry,
12/18/2017

View from the Riverbank: Spec offers a prosperous 2018

Speculative office development returns to the Thames Valley! To be precise, the speculative scheme is actually just a13,500 sq ft office development offering refreshments and with office capacity. Hardly the next Canary Wharf but an emotional moment no less for the Thames Valley office market, given the lack of speculative Grade A office space (ie zero) currently being constructed or coming to market. In fact, the usual suspects at Winnersh Triangle and Green Park, Reading have all put
12/18/2017

Work to start on first offices at Longcross Park

Work starts next year on the first commercial space in the massive Longcross Park development in Chertsey. A joint venture between Crest Nicholson and Aviva Investors has secured detailed planning consent for 150,000 sq ft of Grade A offices and a 13,500 sq ft mixed use development called the Discovery Building. It will have 8,000 sq ft of studio and office space with the remainder earmarked for retail operators. The 850,000 sq ft development in Chertsey, the nearest Enterprise Zone to
12/18/2017

East West Rail 'takes Bucks out of the railway backwater'

The launch of the East West Railway Company has got the thumbs-up from Buckinghamshire County Council. The new company, launched on December 14 - almost exactly 50 years since the old Varsity line closed - by transport secretary Chris Grayling, will oversee the restoration of the link between Oxford and Cambridge. Mark Shaw, Buckinghamshire County Council deputy leader and transport cabinet member, said: "This is great news for Buckinghamshire. We've spent the past 20 years campaigning for
12/18/2017

150 homes planned for Holyport - and 150 for Bloxham

Beaulieu Homes Southern has applied to build 150 homes on Green Belt land at Lodge Farm, between Holyport and Bray. The plans include two football pitches, change of use of an existing farm building into a community building, plus landscaping and parking on the 21.75-hectare agricultural site. In its application to the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead, the developer says it can meet the ‘very special circumstances’ which would permit development on the Green Belt. Some affordable housing
12/18/2017

New heritage and architecture training hub for Swindon

Part of the former GWR carriage works at Swindon is to become a training centre for postgraduate courses in cultural heritage and architecture. The University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) has teamed up with Swindon Borough Council and economic development company Forward Swindon to create the new training hub. UWTSD says it is responding to both the national skills gap in archaeology, and a demand from businesses for CPD courses such as in heritage management. The council is keen to

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Independent Property
NEWS & VIEWS

Reporting daily from the Thames Valley tvproperty.co.uk

News

Urban market plan recommended for approval

765 flats in Kenavon Drive, Reading recommended for approval

Can't wait until January? Try our printed edition

View from the Riverbank: Spec offers a prosperous 2018

Work to start on first offices at Longcross Park

East West Rail 'takes Bucks out of the railway backwater'

150 homes planned for Holyport - and 150 for Bloxham

New heritage and architecture training hub for Swindon