Phase two of halls development nears completion

Thursday, 07 June 2012

Childs Hall redevelopment nears completion

Colleagues will have been watching with interest the emergence of the new Childs Hall over the past 18 months, following the demolition of the old hall in 2010. The project to replace the aging accommodation with almost 900 new rooms is on schedule and due to be completed by late July. The halls will then form a core part of accommodation for the next academic year, managed and operated by University Partnerships Programme (UPP).

The £30 million construction project has been managed by Project Managers in FMD. They have overseen the creation of almost 600 rooms in blocks, with eight rooms per corridor and a communal kitchen, mirroring phase one of the project in Stenton and Mackinder Halls. In a new departure for accommodation at Reading, a further 300 rooms are being built to create 25 townhouses. The latter have communal kitchens, living and dining spaces on the ground floor and are arranged in units of four bedrooms on each of the three upper floors.

Construction, cladding and landscaping will reflect the style of phase one of the halls project. The names for each block also continue the Berkshire village theme from phase one (Lambourn, Newington, Oakley, Padworth, Quainton, Ruscombe, Sonning and Tidmarsh).

From the upper floors, the accommodation boasts lovely views over the Foxhill area of campus and over Reading to the north. The townhouses will achieve the BREAM environmental construction standard of ‘excellent' and the hall will achieve a ‘very good' rating. They are both serviced by a central energy plant. Residents will have easy access to Park Eat and the other Park Group facilities.

Completion of phase two will bring a total of 1,859 new rooms into use in the past two years and concentrate the University's accommodation on Whiteknights, once Sibly and Bulmershe Halls close in the summer.

Bridges Hall

UPP would like to invite staff to attend a presentation on the forthcoming re-development of the Bridges Hall of residence, Whiteknights Road.

The re-development of the Bridges Hall site was granted planning consent by Wokingham Borough Council on 4 April 2012. The new Bridges Hall will include integrated self-catering facilities in accommodation arranged in blocks of cluster flats and townhouses, a centralised facilities management hub comprising launderette, warden's flat, ancillary offices and reception area, covered cycle stores and a new electricity substation.

The presentation will provide details on the construction works and programme, which will get underway this summer, and will also provide an opportunity for our neighbours to discuss the development with members of staff from UPP, the University of Reading and our building contractor, Brookfield Multiplex.

The presentation will be held at Wessex Hall, Whiteknights Road, Reading RG6 6BQ on Wednesday 13 June, 1.15pm and 7pm.