Historic Area Assessment for Reading
Archway Heritage, in conjunction with the Built Heritage Consultancy and Ultranyx, delivered a rapid historic area assessment for the central area of Reading.
The assessment identified historic character areas within the town, and its benefits include:
- business recovery through promotion of heritage, attracting visitors
- a guide to inform the design of redevelopment proposals
- information for residents of the history behind unique historic features
- supporting baseline information for those protecting heritage in Reading.
Character areas and sub-areas
Key views
Professional skill in surveying and assessing heritage interest
Archway Heritage in collaboration
Archway Heritage worked with Reading Civic Society, who supported a call for volunteers, to extend the opportunity to learn about surveying and rapid assessments to young people. Our thanks to our volunteers Bronte Charles, Joe Evans and David Neale for their participation in the survey. Joe has since worked with Archway Heritage.
We worked with the Reading UK BID team and the Conservation Area Advisory Committee and our thanks to them for their input. Our thanks too to Reading Museum Manager Matthew Williams for providing his expertise on historic Reading. We consulted with Urban Place Lab on their assessment work to coordinate our efforts.
Example of collaboration with Urban Space Lab
Our clients
Our thanks to our clients, Historic England and Reading Borough Council, for their inputs into the process. Reading Borough Council will make the survey report available on their website and the survey data will be accessible from the Historic Environment Records.