A plan to add floors to the Bristol & West Arcade in Reading town centre has been rejected because it would have made the building look ‘jarring and awkward’.
Mountley, the company that owns site, applied to add two floors to the building back in September.
If approved, the brick-built extension, would have created 10 apartments, with three studio flats, three one-bed and four two-bed flats.
But the plan was rejected on the suggestion of Reading Borough Council officers, who felt it would ‘harm the character and appearance of the existing building’.
And officers were unconvinced by the noise assessment submitted with the application.
In October, Mountley secured approval to convert the existing upper floors into 26 apartments, and submitted the same noise assessment from the previous plans.
The council’s environmental protection officers said a site specific noise assessment would need to be conducted to determine the impact commercial noise would have on future residents.
Mountley acquired the Arcade earlier this year from Sonic Star Properties, who had won permission to knock down the arcade and replace it with a 182-bed hotel with its own restaurant. This plan was withdrawn in August.
