The area around Reading quickly appears to be becoming a prime location as an industrial headquarters and logistics centre.
Logistics hubs are industrial buildings that can involve the construction, storage and distribution of goods.
The Reading urban area is becoming a sought-after location for these hubs, given its proximity to the M4, the M25 and London.
The latest news is that the companies that have acquired Shire Hall in Shinfield Park wants to replace it with six logistics units.
Shire Hall served as offices for Wood and Foster Wheeler. Before that, it was purpose-built as the offices of Berkshire County Council, opening in 1981.
It is not the only complex that is set to be demolished to make way for a logistics hub either.
The old Miles aircraft factory in Headley Road East, Woodley now known as the Adwest building, will be demolished to make way for five flexible industrial, distribution and storage units in the coming months.
This project proved controversial, with Wokingham Borough Council's planning committee rejecting it in June 2022.
At the time, the committee rejected the project out of concerns over the loss of the historic aircraft building and intensified HGV traffic along Headley Road East.
However, applicants HE2 Reading 1 GP launched a successful appeal to the government's planning inspectorate, which approved the project in December last year.
The developers have recently applied to remove a condition dictating that HGVs should not enter the site between 11pm at night and 7am in the morning (Wokingham Borough Council application reference 241926).
Woodley Town Council's planning & community committee objected to the change at its meeting on Tuesday, August 27.
The committee argued the condition was implemented to protect neighbouring properties from noise overnight, and saw no valid reason to remove the condition.
Not far away, construction on a logistics hub and industrial unit at the Cutbush Industrial Estate in Danehill, Lower Earley was completed last summer.
READ MORE: Logistics hub at old Autotrader site in Lower Earley still on the market
While projects for new industrial and distribution buildings appear to be increasing, these plans do not always work out.
There were approved plans to replace big box stores at the Brunel Retail Park with two large logistics warehouses.
But these plans have effectively been cancelled as the retail park has seen a remarkable recovery, with Home Bargains opening there and B&M moving to a larger unit last year.
The applicant Mayfair Capital also had a plan to demolish the shopping units previously occupied by Laura Ashley and B&M and replace them with a logistics warehouse.
Even these plans have been cancelled as The Range will be opening in the former Laura Ashley unit this month.
Therefore, while progress on establishing the Reading area as a logistics hub is being made, these projects will not always a priority for landowning companies.
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