Addition of 449 flats to The Oracle Reading - see plans here

Hammerson, the company which owns The Oracle, has teamed up with build-to-rent company Packaged Living to transform the centre into a place to live, as well as to shop, eat and watch movies.

The two companies have formed The Oracle Limited Partnership.

Although official plans were submitted to the council in late December, they were not available to view as application reference numbers had not been generated.

Application numbers have finally been given for The Oracle redevelopment plans.

The applications are divided between the plans north and south of the River Kennet.

The plan north of the river has been called Yield Hall Place 1, and the plan south of the river is called Yield Hall Place 2.

South of the river, The Oracle limited partnership want to demolish the Vue Cinema and five restaurant units and replace them with a large multi-storey building.

This new building would contain 247 build-to-rent apartments, 3,046 sqm of commercial floorspace to provide a new cinema and ground floor space for cafes, restaurants, bars and other businesses to occupy.

Yield Hall Place 2 would consist of 117 one-bed, 98 two bed, 10 three bed and 22 studio apartments.

A CGI of the proposed building at The Oracle which would be built south of the River Kennet. Credit: The Oracle Limited Partnership / Turley

North of the river, the developers has applied to partially demolish the former Debenhams unit, replacing it with a new building that would contain 202 build to rent apartments.

Yield Hall Place 1 would contain 129 one-bed, 70 two-bed two three-bed apartments and one studio flat.

Furthermore, the remainder of the Debenhams unit, currently occupied by Next Beauty at Home, would be reconfigured to provide leisure space, a restaurant and co-working office space.

The proposed ground floor plan for both of the new buildings at the eastern portion of The Oracle in Reading. Credit: The Oracle Limited Partnership / Turley

The ground floor plans suggest a significant decrease in the amount of restaurant space compared to what is currently provided.

As stated, the building that contains Vue Cinema has five restaurant units as well, four of which are occupied by Cote Brasserie, TGI Fridays, Browns Bar & Brasserie and the Miller & Carter Steakhouse.

That would be reduced to one restaurant unit.

Similarly, the former Debenhams unit contains two restaurant units, occupied by Franco Manca and The Real Greek – which would be reduced to one unit.

READ MORE: Restaurants that could close at The Oracle to make way for 449 flat transformation

Ironically, the restaurant departures at The Oracle that have occurred since 2017 have mostly taken place in the western portion of the centre.

Departures in this area include Café Rouge, Giraffe, Jamie’s Italian, Lemoni, and more recently Pizza Hut, which will soon be replaced by Marugame Udon restaurant.

You can view the applications by typing their references into Reading Borough Council’s planning portal.

The plan south of the river can be viewed using reference 221917, and the plan north of the river can be viewed using reference 221916.