£70m project designed by architect Carey Jones Chapman Tolcher
John Lewis has been given planning for a £70m build-to-rent (BTR) development in Reading.
Architect Carey Jones Chapman Tolcher is behind the proposal for the retailer’s BTR arm.
The scheme approved by Reading borough council will see 170 apartments built at a former customer collections centre opposite The Oracle shopping centre.
The project, reduced from an earlier proposal for 215 homes, forms part of John Lewis Partnership’s wider entry into the build-to-rent market.
It has said that its BTR arm will redevelop underused sites within its property portfolio to provide long-term rental homes which it will own and manage directly.
The tallest block at the site will reach seven storeys while John Lewis has agreed to contribute £146,880 towards a new primary care facility nearby after concerns were raised by the scheme’s impact on local health services.
The Reading project follows recent consents granted to the John Lewis Partnership for 428 homes above a new Waitrose in West Ealing at appeal and 353 rental homes above a rebuilt Waitrose in Bromley, Kent.
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