The conversion of a seafood restaurant into offices in Reading town centre has been completed.
The Loch Fyne seafood restaurant used to occupy The Maltings building in Fobney Street, near the Reading Borough Council offices and the Kennet and Avon Canal.
Lasting for years, the chain restaurant run by Greene King was closed down in 2018.
Shortly after that, a plan was submitted to convert The Maltings into offices.
The project was approved by Reading Borough Council’s planning department in June 2019.
At the time, planning officer Anthony Scoles judged that The Maltings is an ‘edge of centre’ site, and given the abundance of alternative restaurants nearby, the loss of the building as an eatery was not considered harmful.
The approval cleared the way for work on the conversion project to take place, which has since been completed.
Details about The Maltings offices can be found on a dedicated website, which states that the first and second floor spaces have been let.
A 1,400 square foot ground floor office is currently available.
The latest news for the site is that details of the building’s sustainability, a condition of the approval of the conversion of The Maltings, have been approved.
This involves an assessment being undertaken using the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM).
These assessments were submitted to the council in March.
The council has since verified that a licensed assessor has conducted a post-construction BREEAM assessment of The Maltings, with the building meeting the required standards.
The successful acquisition of a BREEAM by the site owners was noted on Friday, May 2.
You can view the approved application by typing reference PL/25/0374 into the council’s planning portal.
The Maltings is a Grade II listed building as it dates back to the early 19th century.
At the time of its listing in 1978, The Maltings was owned by Courage Brewery.
It was theorised that the building was previously used as a malthouse, a facility where cereal grain is converted into malt during the beer production process.
The Loch Fyne restaurant in Wokingham continued until August 2022 and was subsequently converted into The Foundry Bell.
A year later, The Crispin Loch Fyne in Winkfield, Ascot, closed in May 2023.
Greene King announced that the last Loch Fyne closed in November of that year.
