Reading Civic Centre was a
civic centre in the town of
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...
, itself in the
English county of
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...
. The centre dated from the mid-1970s.
History
Prior to the 16th century, civic administration for the town of Reading was situated in the ''Yield Hall'', a
guild hall situated by the
River Kennet
The Kennet is a tributary of the River Thames in Southern England. Most of the river is straddled by the North Wessex Downs AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty). The lower reaches have been made navigable as the Kennet Navigation, which � ...
near today's ''Yield Hall Lane''. After a brief stay in what later became
Greyfriars Church, the town council created a new town hall by inserting an upper floor into the refectory of the
Hospitium of St John, the former
hospitium of
Reading Abbey. This was to remain the site of Reading's civic administration, through the successive re-buildings that eventually created today's
Reading Town Hall, until the 1970s.
By the 1950s the administration of the town of Reading had overflowed the available offices in the Town Hall, and the council decided to build new civic offices. The decision was taken to build these at the opposite end of the town centre from the Town Hall, where land was available following
slum clearance
Slum clearance, slum eviction or slum removal is an urban renewal strategy used to transform low-income settlements with poor reputation into another type of development or housing. This has long been a strategy for redeveloping urban communities; ...
.
[ The architect for the new civic offices was the firm of Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall & Partners, who also designed the new police station and Hexagon theatre. The new Civic Centre was officially opened by ]Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
in May 1978.
In 2014, the civic offices were deemed to be at the end of its design life and the council gave approval for demolition. The civic offices were demolished between 2015 and 2016.
Architecture
The civic centre originally comprised four adjacent and interlinked buildings. All four buildings were positioned around the southern and western sides of an above-ground public plaza, with the area below the buildings and plaza given over to service roads and car parking structures.Thames Valley Police
Thames Valley Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the Thames Valley region, covering the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire in South East England.
It is the largest non-metropolitan police force ...
* Reading Magistrates' Court, the local magistrates' court
A magistrates' court is a lower court where, in several Jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions, all criminal proceedings start. Also some civil matters may be dealt with here, such as family proceedings.
Courts
* Magistrates' court (England and Wales) ...
* The Hexagon, a local multi-purpose arts venue and theatre
Whilst the plaza, police station, magistrates court and theatre are still extant and in use for their original purposes, the civic offices became empty after Reading Borough Council relocated their offices to Bridge Street in 2014, and the civic offices were demolished between 2015 and 2016.[
]
References
{{Commons category
Civic Centre
City and town halls in Berkshire
Government buildings completed in 1978