A project to demolish a busy buffet restaurant in Reading town centre to replace it with more than 100 apartments has cleared a crucial hurdle.
The Cosmo buffet has been in Reading for well over a decade, serving up Asian fusion food and a range of other global fusion cuisines and desserts to diners.
But the days of the buffet are numbered as the development company, the Shaviram Group, has won permission to demolish the building and replace it with an 11-storey building containing 103 flats.
The project was approved by Reading Borough Council’s planning applications committee in September last year.
It involves the demolition of the Cosmo building at 35-38 Friar Street and a townhouse at 39 Friar Street, which was previously home to the 9 Round kickboxing gym.
The townhouse was previously on the local list of heritage assets, but was delisted in 2018 as it was no longer judged to be of architectural merit.
During the planning meeting, councillor Richard Davies (Labour, Thames) said: “There’s no doubt in my mind that this will be a big improvement to this area.
“What we’ve got now is a degraded heritage townhouse which doesn’t retain heritage features and a late 20th-century building of doubtful architectural merit.”
Of the 103 apartments provided, 19 will be studios, 22 will have one-bed, 56 will be two-beds, and six three-bed flats will be created as well.
A new restaurant unit will be created at street level, with early designs showing Cosmo occupying the unit.
The project was approved subject to the Shaviram Group entering into a Section 106 legal agreement with the council, defining financial contributions to pay for the impact of the development on services in the town.
This agreement was signed on Wednesday, November 19.
The S106 states that 33 flats will be designated at affordable rent levels, making up 32 per cent of the development.
Of those, five will be studios, seven one-bed, 19 two-bed and two three-bed flats will be made affordable.
The company will also pay the council £26,804.75 in employment and skills plan (ESP) contributions, and £1,800 towards carbon offsetting in the borough.
Recently, public art featuring King Henry I, William Marshall and Jane Austen has been installed immediately next to the townhouse, which will be protected during the construction phase.
The Shaviram Group must begin work no later than three years after the approval.
If no work takes place, the application will be voided.
You can view the approved application by typing reference PL/22/0933 into the council’s planning portal.
The other Shaviram Group projects in Reading involved the conversion of Tamar House in Station Road into 20 flats, Summit House in Greyfriars Road into 21 flats, and improvements to the Merchant House building off Friar Street.
