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Council may sell Easthampstead Park Conference Centre

Councillors are to consider selling Easthampstead Park Conference Centre (EPCC) to a hotel operator. Bracknell Forest Council’s (BFC) executive will review options to protect the future of the listed building in the light of funding cuts at a meeting of its executive committee on Tuesday, April 10. BFC says it can no longer afford the £250,000 a year subsidy.  Selling the site for housing is not an option but the council may consider an ‘alternative form of management’. Vincent Paliczka,

Plans submitted for Bristol & West arcade in Reading

Sonic Star Properties has submitted scaled down plans for a mixed-use scheme on the site of the former Bristol & West arcade in Reading. Through Savills, the developer held a public consultation last summer on plans for 64 flats and seven retail units on the site but plans now submitted to Reading Borough Council show 35 flats, 4,212 sq m of offices and five retail units. The site has been vacant since the abortive Brook Henderson development which gained planning permission for shops, a

Heathrow rail links get Government thumbs up

The Government has pledged support for both western and southern rail links to Heathrow. Fears were expressed last year that the schemes were under threat through potential lack of funding. But as part of an announcement that the Heathrow Express (HEx) service has been preserved for at least another decade, transport minister Chris Grayling has said his department would now ‘progress the development of the proposed new western and southern rail links to Heathrow’. The HEx agreement, which

Plans submitted for Slough hotels

A planning application has gone in for two hotels along with homes and shops at the former library site in the centre of Slough. If approved, two Marriott International brands, Moxy and Residence Inn will have a total of 244 bedrooms and there will be 62 one and two-bedroom apartments and 5,000 sq ft of retail and restaurant accommodation. Moxy is a highly contemporary style while Residence Inn is described as an ‘extended stay’ hotel. Slough Urban Renewal (SUR) is in line to carry out the

McKay Securities sells Runnymede building after more than 40 years

McKay Securities has sold its Runnymede Focus industrial building in Egham, Surrey, for £19.91 million. The 90,890 sq ft warehouse, developed by McKay in 1974, is occupied by World Duty Free Group at a rent of £890,000 per year.  McKay completed a 10-year lease re-gear at the end of 2014. The remaining seven-year lease term is subject to a rent review in December 2019. Simon Perkins, chief executive of McKay, said: “This sale highlights the ongoing appetite for well-located, well-let assets in

Two units let at Mulberry Business Park, Wokingham

AEW’s South East Office Fund has let the final two newly-refurbished buildings at Mulberry Business Park in Wokingham.  The office complex in Fishponds Road, just off Molly Millars Lane, is in the centre of Wokingham’s commercial hub.   Its two remaining vacant buildings, Rubra 2 and Alba House, 8,000 sq ft and 3,500 sq ft respectively, have now been let to existing occupier Global Knowledge, specialist in technology training.  The offices have ample parking and are a short walk from Wokingham

Firms expand at 3 Forbury Place

Two deals totalling 18,000 sq ft have taken place at 3 Forbury Place, Reading, Berkshire, (formally One Reading Central). PwC, who had no main advisers, has taken 10,400 sq ft on the fifth floor. The space was sublet from Yell which was advised by Lambert Smith Hampton. The global accountancy practice now has the whole of the fourth and fifth floors. Yell, which initially had seven floors in the building, now has just one but has taken space for one of its teams nearby at One Valpy. And, in a

130,000 sq ft of deals at Slough's Bath Road Central

Lettings totalling almost 130,000 sq ft have been announced at Bath Road Central in Slough. CoStar News has reported three leases on Grade A space. It states: * Stanley Black & Decker will expand from its existing offices at 210 Bath Road Central, to 48,915 sq ft at 270 Bath Road Central. The 10-year deal takes effect from 2019. * Regus has taken an 11-year lease at 268 Bath Road and plans extensive improvements to the 69, 901 sq ft building. * Eaton Power has taken a 10-year lease on 9,849 sq

Productivity and the transformation of the working environment

Both the working day and the working environment are ever evolving concepts. Vail Williams partner David Thomas discusses where work is going. The working day has changed considerably in the last 30 years. From getting into your Ford Escort to travel to work for your 9-5 job, surrounded by rows of typing pools and telex machines in your naturally ventilated office, to travelling to work in cars that have more technology than the average computer had 20 years ago! Nowadays, our agile,

Ericsson takes 37,600 sq ft at Thames Tower

Ericsson is to take 37, 600 sq ft over three floors at Thames Tower in Reading, Berkshire. The mobile phone service provider has signed a 10-year deal to house its network operations centre at the Landid/Brockton Capital development opposite Reading station. The building is now 75 per cent let. As previously predicted in our Rumours & Innuendo column, Ericsson will bring together all staff currently based at the company’s Guildford and Newbury offices when it moves in at the end of 2018.