Wokingham town centre will have a fresh face this summer as scaffolding starts to come down along Peach Street and the new Peach Place development is revealed.
Cllr Philip Mirfin, executive member for regeneration, said: “Peach Place will be a fantastic asset for Wokingham town centre with its new pedestrianised square, shops and cafes. With the façades beginning to be revealed along Peach Street, people will get a real feel for what we are creating in the town centre.
“I’m really pleased to see how great the new facades look and how it creates a much better backdrop for historic buildings such as the town hall. Looking at Peach Street now it’s hard to remember just how awful the previous 1960s concrete building looked before we demolished it last spring.
“People can see the attention to detail which has gone into the new buildings, such as using a range of brick types and brick bonds to help integrate with the existing streetscape, along with decorative brick work on the gabled buildings and a range of roof styles.”
Construction
Work at Peach Place started in January 2017 when the site was handed over to Dawnus Construction Ltd who then proceeded to strip out and demolish the original 1960s parade of shops before starting construction on the new buildings along Peach Street and Rose Street.
Cllr Mirfin continued; “We’re really pleased with how the scheme has come together and we’re in conversations with some great businesses who are keen to open in the town centre. Our focus remains on improving the mix of businesses the town currently offers, especially the boutique and independent style shops that will help Wokingham offer something completely different from larger neighbours like Reading and Bracknell.
“Work at Peach Place remains on programme to complete for Christmas this year and over the coming months people will see lots happening around the site. We will be starting work on resurfacing the footpath along Peach Street, putting in the new shop fronts and finishing the new buildings and town houses which face out onto Rose Street. People can keep up to date with the latest news and find out more about what’s planned on our dedicated regeneration company website."
Interesting facts and figures about the Peach Place scheme
- There has been enough concrete poured into the foundations at Peach Place to fill up the Carnival swimming pool more than three times over
- The Peach Place steel frame is made up of around 259 tonnes of steel. That’s the same weight as 43 African elephants.
- We’re using around 211,000 bricks at Peach Place. If you laid them all end to end it would take you all the way to High Street Kensington tube stations. That’s over 28 miles away (as the crow flies)
The development includes:
- 232 windows
- 148 decorative brick ‘diamonds’ on the gabled units
- 30 public cycle stands
- 1 public bike pump (in partnership with My Journey Wokingham)
