Progress made on turning offices in Reading into flats

Alexander House in Kings Road has been the subject of plans to convert it into homes since 2021. More progress is being made to bring the latest project to completion.

Elsewhere, a car servicing company has won approval to expand its operations so it can better service electric vehicles (EVs).

You can view each application by typing the reference in brackets into Reading Borough Council’s planning portal.

Progress made on conversion of offices into flats (240375)

Alexander House 205-207 Kings Road, Reading, which is undergoing a conversion from offices into flats. Credit: James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporting Service

A developer is making progress on converting Alexander House into nearly 30 apartments.

BMR Property Group had its air quality assessment demonstrating that future residents would not suffer excessive pollution approved by the council.

READ MORE: Conversion of offices into flats approved on busy road in Reading 

The approved assessment relates to part of the project to add a floor to the building to create four studios, one on-bed flat and three two-bed flats.

These flats are in addition to the project (reference 230400) to convert the existing floors into 19 one-bed and three two-bed flats.

More space for car servicing workshop approved (231607)

Cordwallis Group commercial vehicle company in Bennet Road, Whitley. (Image: BW Architects)

Cordwallis Commercials has won permission to increase storage space and create more space for MOTs at its base in Whitley.

The site at 40 Bennet Road is used as a depot for heavy goods and commercial vehicles and also an MOT servicing centre.

Cordwallis can now extend an existing storage building and create a separate  area for servicing and MOTs for smaller vans and EVs after its project was approved by the council’s planning applications committee on March 27.

Councillor Micky Leng (Labour, Whitley) said: “We need a secondhand market, the more infrastructure we get, the more EV vehicles we have, the quicker we can have a secondhand market.

“It’s my ward, its jobs and I’ll always support jobs in my ward and in Reading.”

Change to house conversion into flats (240354)

The house in Mount Pleasant, Reading, which has been converted into a HMO. Credit: Google Maps

A terraced house in Mount Pleasant that was previously a two-bed family house has become a four-bedroom home of multiple occupation (HMO).

However, the owner intends to make it a five-bed HMO through a loft conversion.

The loft at the home in Mount Pleasant, Reading, which the owner want to rent out as a fifth bedroom. Credit: Form Design Group

While the loft already has space to become a bedroom, the room is currently unused.

The owner has applied to make internal alterations to facilitate the legal use of the loft as a bedroom.

Plan for extensions to Whitley HMO (240380)

The existing terraced home of multiple occupation (HMO) in Basingstoke Road, Reading. Credit: Google Maps

The owner of a HMO in Whitley has applied to add a two-storey extension to create new bedrooms.

The terraced home in Basingstoke Road is currently made up of two one-bedroom flats.

The floorplan for the project for additional bedrooms created by extensions at a house in Basingstoke Road, Reading. Credit: Rammurti Design

Kennet Investments, the owner, has applied to add a part single-storey and part double-storey extension and turn the loft into habitable accommodation.

These changes would create a bedroom and living room at ground level, a larger bedroom and living space on the first floor, and a bedroom in the loft.