Adjustments have been made to plans to add more than 600 flats to the Broad Street Mall in Reading.
Plans have been afoot for years to add apartments to the mall, with proposals first surfacing under previous mall owners Morgarth.
But fresh plans were submitted this year by mall owners AEW and developers McLaren Living due to regulation changes requiring the provision of extra staircases following the Grenfell disaster and other project re-assessments.
Now, adjustments have been made to the project, with a number of new computer-generated images (CGIs) being submitted giving an impression of what it could look like in the future.
The CGIs show a change in building materials, meaning the colour of the proposed towers would go from the original red and grey when the plan was first submitted to lighter greys and beige.
Additionally, landscaping improvements would be made along Düsseldorf Way, with CGIs showing people out and about on a summer’s day, and a new entrance to the mall itself.
Queens Walk is also reimagined as a bustling area with people enjoying al-fresco dining next to The Hexagon.
The project will result in the loss of seven leisure units and the partial demolition of the unit owned by TK Maxx.
It means that Sushimania, Bierhaus, Culture Mix, The Forgotten British Gurkha and Escape Reading would have to relocate or close.
Two of the businesses included in the construction zone have already closed – Audio T relocated to Swallowfield in December 2023, and Pepe Sale closed this June.
AEW and Mclaren Living wants to replace these with one retail unit. While that is a substantial reduction, six retail units would be provided along Düsseldorf Way.
The adjustments were made following feedback from Reading Borough Council’s planning department Abbey ward representatives.
The feedback was that the project is ‘less landmarky’ than the original plan by former mall owners Morgarth, and requested details of how the developers would aim to ‘green’ the mall car park.
The top floor of the car park would be enhanced with pagoda-like structures providing both shade for parked cars and a place for plants to grow.
A planning agent wrote that a ‘day in the life of a resident’ would involve the car park being ‘a hit with the family’ thanks to public art, different coloured spaces and lush planting.
It is predicted that 426 car parking spaces will remain following the development, as 294 spaces will be lost out of the current 720 spaces provided.
The developers will provide 21 disabled spaces, four more than the 18 currently available.
The adjustments were validated towards the end of September.
The amount of flats provided remains at 644, broken down into 49 three-bed, 297 two-bed and 298 one-bed apartments.
You can view the project by typing reference PL/24/0173 into the council’s planning portal.
The application will eventually be decided on at a future meeting of the council’s planning applications committee.
