New affordable flats created in Reading

18 new affordable flats are set to be made available to residents on Reading’s council housing list within the next six months as the final bricks were laid on a housing project in Lyndhurst Road on Thursday 12 August.

Reading Borough Council has turned the vacant Norcot Youth and Community Centre into eight 1-bed and ten 2-bed flats over three floors, with 19 parking spaces, whilst also retaining a community space. There is also a communal courtyard garden for tenants to use, whilst the ground floor flats are fully accessible with level access and wet rooms.

Councillors Ellie Emberson (Lead Member for Housing) and Jenny Rynn and Daya Pal Singh (Kentwood ward councillors) were present at the ‘topping out’ ceremony on Thursday as the external building work was finished. Beginning in November 2020, the build has been completed despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the remaining internal work will be finished by the end of January 2022.

The development is part of Reading Borough Council’s ambitious £80m investment in housebuilding which will deliver over 300 new homes over the next four years to help reduce the housing waiting list and provide affordable rent properties to Reading’s residents.

With the environment and sustainability at the heart of that programme, the Lyndhurst Road development has been built with a number of features in line with the Council’s aim to create a net-zero carbon Reading by 2030. These include renewable energy solar panels on the roof and triple glazing and mechanical ventilation in each flat to reduce the amount of energy needed to heat the homes via heat recovery. The parking spaces will include electric charging stations.

Cllr Ellie Emberson, Lead Member for Housing at Reading Borough Council, said:
“This is a really exciting day as we get nearer to being able to move yet more Reading residents into high quality affordable housing which is a major focus with over 300 such homes set to be provided across Reading in the next four years. We’re also delighted to be able to provide a community space for local people to use at Lyndhurst Road too, and to demonstrate the steps we are taking through numerous measures to vastly reduce the environmental impact of housebuilding and take Reading closer to becoming carbon neutral”.