Plans are in progress to demolish and replace the police headquarters in Reading town centre with hundreds of apartments.
The development company S2 has launched a webpage for a project to demolish the Thames Valley Police headquarters in Castle Street and replace it with 260 flats.
Initial sketches show the future flats being contained within one free-standing tower and four interconnected blocks, with people enjoying coffee at ground level and children playing in a tree-lined street.
The plan is an embryonic stage at the moment, as no planning application has been submitted to the council and no pre-application consultation website has been launched yet either.
The S2 website states: “A planning application is being prepared for a comprehensive redevelopment to include 20,000 sq ft of retail and commercial space along with 260 residential flats.”
The company predicts the gross domestic value of the development to be £110 million.
The website also mentions that the site falls within the council’s ‘West Side Major Opportunity Area’ in the Reading Local Plan 2019, which are areas identified for residential and retail development.
The scheme has been launched as Thames Valley Police is set to vacate its five-storey headquarters in Castle Street and relocate its Reading operations to Atlantic House in Whitley.
Thames Valley Police is due to vacate the headquarters in the latter half of this year, clearing the way for S2’s project.
READ MORE: When Thames Valley Police could relocate to new station in Reading as work restarts
It is not currently known whether any money has been exchanged between the police authority and the prospective developers.
S2 is a developer behind some huge projects in Reading, London and Bracknell.
It won approval for the part demolition of The Drews Ironmongers building in Caversham and the construction of 29 flats on the site in March this year.
S2 is also in charge of the huge Bracknell Beeches development, which will see 12 office buildings replaced with more than 300 flats contained in seven new apartment blocks.
READ MORE: Huge Bracknell Beeches development of more than 300 flats one step closer to construction
Thames Valley Police was meant to have moved into new offices at Atlantic House in Imperial Way in March last year.
However, preparation works were required before the police could move into the building.
These preparations works were initially undertaken by contractors Midas Construction, which went into administration in January 2022, with the construction contract being passed to Willmott Dixon for completion.
S2 is expected to hold a pre-application consultation before the submission of a planning application for its project to build the 260 flats at the police headquarters is submitted.
Thames Valley Police has been asked to clarify the status of the Castle Street headquarters and give a more precise move in date for its new HQ in Atlantic House.
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