Reading landmark office to offer 'sweeping views' of town

A new 16-storey office, under construction in Reading, will offer "sweeping views" of the town and surrounding countryside, a developer has said.

Lincoln MGT is developing One Station Hill, which is part of the Station Hill regeneration project.

The building will include 15 floors of workspace and a fitness club.

Builders and project partners celebrated the structure's topping out ceremony on Monday.

At the ceremony, invited guests were taken to the highest occupiable storey of the new 78m-high (256ft) building, which is expected to open early next year.

Hewitt Tower, the Chatham Street development and the Foundry Quarter development in Weldale Street could all be seen to the west, with the vista stretching across the Thames Valley, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Almost all of Caversham could also be seen from the building, as well as the neighbouring Thames Tower and Reading Station.

The topping out event involved a ceremonial laying of wet concrete and nailing a tree branch to a wooden structure as part of a builders' ritual.

The wider regeneration scheme, which will link the station and north Reading to the town centre, will also provide 1,300 homes to rent, 95,000 sq ft of retail and leisure space and 625,000 sq ft of office space, according to Lincoln MGT.

The US company bought the site in 2018 for an estimated £70m, becoming its third owner in 13 years.

Until the acquisition, the £500m redevelopment had been dogged with delays.

The land was previously owned by Sir John Madejski, the former owner of Reading FC, before being sold to Sackville Developments in 2013.

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