A plan to build 54 affordable and sustainable homes has been given the go ahead next to a grade II listed pub near Reading town centre.

Abri, a housebuilding company, has bought 115 Chatham Street, and has planning permission to build 54 new apartments on the site, which is located next to Chatham Street Surgery and the Bulter pub, which is Grade II listed.

Out of the 54 apartments 27 will be one-bedroom, 25 will be two-bedroom and two will be three-bedroom.

All of the apartments will be contained in one block and all of them will be affordable.

Of the 54 apartments, 42 will be made available to buy through shared ownership and 12 will be available through affordable rent.

Additionally, the homes will be fitted with air source heat pumps in an effort to make them sustainable and reduce future occupants’ energy bills.

The heat pumps work by absorbing heat from outdoors into a liquid. Then using electricity, the pump compresses the liquid, increasing its temperature and condensing it to function as a radiator.

Gavin Board, Senior Land Manager at Abri said: “One of our priorities is to make sure Abri has a carbon neutral impact and by moving away from gas heating we’re helping to make these homes sustainable long term.

“Abri is committed to building at least 1,500 new homes a year by 2030 and using our own inhouse construction team will help us make sure the homes are of the very best quality.

“We want to improve opportunities for home ownership for more people and these affordable homes will do that in an area where they’re so vitally needed.”

In order for the new apartment building to be constructed, a two-storey office building and a two-storey warehouse  at 115 Chatham Street will both be demolished to make way for it.

Consent for the development was given at a planning meeting in July last year, subject to a section 106 legal agreement being achieved.

This agreement was reached on December 15, 2021.

You can view the approved plan by typing reference 201104 into the council’s planning portal here: http://planning.reading.gov.uk/fastweb_PL/welcome.asp .

The new flats will also be located next to The Face Bar club in Ambrose Place.

When the plan was being discussed, council officers stated that it would be the developer’s responsibility to install effective sound mitigation so that future occupants are not disturbed by the noise coming from The Butler and The Face Bar.

The consent was achieved by agents Boyer Planning, and originally secured by developers Archel Homes, which appears to have sold the planning consent to Abri.