Changes have been made to a plan to replace a Reading town centre with flats and a new restaurant.
A plan to demolish 35-39 Friar Street – which contains the Cosmo global buffet and the closed 9 Round kickboxing gym – was submitted to Reading Borough Council last autumn.
Developers The Shaviram Group have now adapted the plan to add an additional 67sq m to the new restaurant unit on the ground floor, bringing the unit’s total size to 1,520sq m.
The Cosmo global buffet would have to close for the development to take place. It is understood they will be the occupants of the new restaurant once construction is completed.
Revisions have been made to the plans for the basement, ground and first floor of the building.
The proposed co-working space on the ground and the first floor will provide secure independent access from the street, with a new lift and an accessible toilet.
Cycle storage has been added to the ground floor, blue badge parking has been relocated to a more easily accessible location and the service area and bin stores are now towards the rear of the building.
The ground floor would contain the replacement restaurant, a new 180sq m retail unit, co-working space and access for future occupants.
There will be no changes to the number of flats provided, which remains at 103: 41 one-bed, 56 two-bed and six three-bed apartments. Of those 30% (30 flats) would be designated affordable, and 5% (five flats) would be wheelchair adaptable.
Other changes include reducing the number of wheelchair-accessible parking bays from four to three and increasing the cycling bays by 12 to a total of 105.
This is a car-free development apart from the disabled parking bays, and three standard parking bays within a courtyard to the north of the site.
The plan to replace the existing building first emerged in February last year, when The Shaviram Group unveiled its scheme in a pre-application consultation.
The application can be seen by searching for reference 220933 on Reading Borough Council’s planning website.
