Reading: past, present and future
Matthew Wright caught up with Scott Witchalls, partner, Peter Brett Associates, and winner of Outstanding Contribution at the Thames Valley Property Awards.
Late 1980s
Peter Brett Associates has been established in Reading for over 50 years, so we are very familiar with the changes that have taken place over time here. Thames Valley Park, conceived in the 1980s, was a trailblazer for modern-style business parks in terms of design and thinking, proving incredibly successful in attracting international high-tech companies such as Microsoft and Oracle to the area.
At the time, during the dot-com boom, the focus was on an automotive growth-driven economy using an out-of-town business park model, with Reading establishing itself as the focal point for the region west of Heathrow.
Late 1990s
It was while working closely on the Green Park development, getting to grips with the logistics involved in getting the planned 10,000 people to and from work, that we began to realise the existing strategic transport plan wasn’t working for the region. There was a real need for a long-term infrastructure view.
Around the same time, Reading Borough became a unitary authority with responsibility for its own highways and roads, and in the process, it gained autonomy over long-term planning and decision-making. We worked closely with the strong leadership team at Reading to develop their own transport plan, something which would work for specific needs of Greater Reading.
To get people moving efficiently by train and by bus, the whole of the Reading area needed to wake up.
I also became involved as a board director of the Thames Valley Economic Partnership, a self-appointed public and private sector entity supported by the South East Regional Development Agency (SEEDA), which helped out in parallel on long-term strategic economic and planning issues. By all joining together, we lobbied hard for Reading to receive national-level funding for transportation upgrades.
The present
The redevelopment of Reading station has been a huge catalyst for the town – both in terms of national transportation links and for enabling Crossrail to come to Reading, and in terms of the land development schemes which are currently transforming Reading into a major national retail and commercial hub.
A number of the key strand infrastructure projects such as upgrades to M4 junction 11 and Reading station are now complete and in place, with others set to follow soon, such as the M4 smart motorway, Green Park Station, mass rapid transit links, and a direct rail link to Heathrow airport.
However, there is still a huge amount of work to do to get Reading up to the level of some other European smart cities such as Barcelona and Helsinki, where they take a very holistic, integrated view of city management, encompassing social as well as financial concerns. For example, the goal of making Reading into an ultra-low carbon town will require far more focus upon renewable energy sources, its storage, and its deployment.
Using the recently-acquired LEP ‘Smart City’ funds, we’re currently launching a series of trailblazer projects to develop advanced transport initiatives, such as live vehicle-to-vehicle communication, which will allow cars, buses, and bikes to talk to each other and feed back real-time advice on best journey options. Not only will this pave a way for future projects, but it will also release more capacity out of the existing infrastructure.
The future
Reading is known as a high-tech hub, but we’re still lagging behind in making the best use of our data and communication.
The long-term vision for Reading is that of mass-rapid transport, autonomous vehicles and ultra low emissions, making it an attractive place for investors, businesses and residents alike. Reading needs to be on the map on a global scale.
It’s all about successful and sustainable economic growth and creating great communities for the future – we want Reading to be a great place to live, work, and play.
