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This tired office space facing Friar Street in Central Reading was identified as a prime site for regeneration. After considering a number of uses, including offices and a hotel, it was determined that the maximum values could be achieved through residential.

Gaunt Francis proposed the stripping back to structure of the existing four storey office block constructed on the top of the Friars Walk Shopping Centre, and the construction of two additional steel frame floors to form a six storey building. An entirely new rendered envelope encloses this frame. Detailed coordination with our client’s needs separates the internal space into the optimum arrangement of three wings of apartments located around a focal atrium.

In addition to accommodating detailed plant requirements, the building is designed to achieve a ‘very good’ EcoHomes rating and to comply with the guidelines regarding social housing, making this car free town centre residential development a contemporary sustainable regeneration.

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Client:
Catalyst Housing Association
Status:
Planning consent summer 2005
Contract Value:
c.£8.4m
Size:
71 apartments

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