Councillors decide on 236 rented flats at 2 Norman Place, by the Thames off Vastern Road, on Wednesday. Officers say approve; 24 flats would be affordable.
Councillors will decide on Wednesday whether 236 flats can replace the empty office block at 2 Norman Place, on the Thames just north of Reading station. Planning officers recommend approval.
The buildings would rise to 11 storeys on the Vastern Road corner and step down to four storeys by the river. A new public square would open on to the Thames Path.
The application, PL/24/0958, goes to the Planning Applications Committee at 6.30pm on Wednesday 4 November. The officers’ report sets out the scheme. The applicant is Norman Place (Reading) LLP.
What is proposed
The 0.54 hectare site sits east of Norman Place and north of Vastern Road. Today it holds an unoccupied four-storey office building and a substation. Its car park has run as a public car park since August 2024.
The plans include:
- 212 Build to Rent flats: 22 studios, 81 one-bed, 99 two-bed and 10 three-bed
- 24 affordable flats at affordable private rent, set at Local Housing Allowance levels: 11 one-bed, 11 two-bed and 2 three-bed
- one commercial unit facing a public square by the river, to be let to local businesses at reduced rates
- a wider shared path along Norman Place and a wider towpath
- 18 car parking spaces, three of them for wheelchair users, and 132 cycle spaces
The report says the riverside square would stay open to the public. Local groups could use it free for performances or events on up to 12 days a year.
Only 10% affordable
Reading’s policy expects 30% affordable housing on schemes this size. This one offers 24 flats, or 10.17%.
The developer’s viability adviser, CBRE, said the scheme could not afford any. It put the deficit at about £9.85m with no affordable homes, and £22.72m at 30%. The council’s own adviser, Carter Jonas, found the deficit overstated. It calculated a surplus of about £1.56m on a fully private scheme, and recommended the council negotiate on that basis.
The affordable offer has grown during the application:
The first plans in 2024 were for 254 flats, 13 of them affordable (5.12%). The scheme was cut to 236 flats, and the affordable offer rose to 24 in May 2026.
If it is approved, a review would check the developer’s profits later on. Any uplift could pay for more affordable housing, up to the 30% equivalent, capped at £8,501,690. The review would happen when 75% of the rented flats are occupied, or 12 months after completion, whichever comes first.
What people said
The report counts 23 letters of support from the first consultation in late 2024, most from Caversham (RG4) addresses. Supporters liked the riverside square, the cycle route between the station and Caversham, and the extra housing. Several called the current building an eyesore.
There were three objections, plus one more at the re-consultation in late 2025. Objectors said the blocks were too big and bland, that 10% affordable was too low, and that residents without spaces would park on nearby streets.
The Caversham and District Residents’ Association (CADRA) welcomed the housing and the river access. But it said the revised plans still did not answer its concerns about height. “The building still appears over-dominant both on the river frontage and on Vastern Road,” it wrote. Reading Cycle Campaign supported the scheme.
The Environment Agency first objected on flood risk, saying a 60m wall along Vastern Road would impede flood water. It withdrew the objection once the applicant showed the wall sat outside the design flood extent. Thames Water raised no objection.
The first test of the new rules
This is the first big Reading application to reach the committee since new national rules took effect on 31 October. Councillors can no longer call an application in. Instead the committee chair and a senior planning officer decide together which major schemes the committee hears.
They agreed on 16 October to send this one, the report says. It needs affordable housing under council policy and includes a building of more than five storeys. We explain the new rules here.
If councillors agree with officers, the legal agreement must be signed by 18 November, or the council’s planning director can refuse permission. That date can be extended.
What it means for you
- To watch, the meeting is in the Council Chamber at the Civic Centre, Bridge Street, at 6.30pm on Wednesday. The agenda says it may be webcast on the council’s website.
- If you walk or cycle between the station and Christchurch Bridge, the Norman Place route and the towpath would be widened under the plans.
- If you rent: the 24 affordable flats would be let at Local Housing Allowance rates, in perpetuity.
Our planning applications guide explains how to search the register and comment on a scheme.
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