Office buildings set to become new home of courts

Offices which have been vacant for years are set to be turned into the new home of the civil courts in the town.

Reading County and Family Courts have been located at the end of Friar Steet for decades, with the court being established in 1847.

Inside, judges hear cases which cover personal injury claims, defamation, landlord-tenant disputes and child and vulnerable adult custody cases.

These courts are now set to move into offices that were refurbished in recent years after a lengthy period of being unoccupied.

The refurbished Carbon Building and attached Grade II listed building Highbridge House off Kings Road were purchased by His Majesty’s Court & Tribunals Service in 2022.

The Carbon building in Kings Road, Reading town centre. Credit: James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporting Service

Now, the project to prepare both of those buildings for use as courts has been approved by Reading Borough Council’s planning applications committee.

The conversion of the site involves internal modifications to create 10 court rooms within the Carbon building, with Highbridge House being used as accommodation for the staff and judiciary.

Cllr Karen Rowland (Labour, Abbey), lead councillor for environmental services and community safety called Highbridge House “a lovely listed building.”

She said: “It is a building from a listed building standpoint that has just really kind of been shunted into a world of surrounding modern structures but it is still quite charming.

“It’s a very charming building, so I’m really looking forward to the great benefits that it’s going to bring to the town.”

Highbridge House in Highbridge Wharf, Reading town centre. Credit: James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporting Service

Councillor Micky Leng (Labour, Whitley) called for the courts service to hire people within Reading and the surrounding area.

Cllr Leng, lead for planning and assets  said: “In this prestigious industry, I’d like to see some decent jobs coming back to local people and some proper education and skills plans that can really benefit local people, maybe joining up with the university, not just an off-site contribution or something like that.”

As a condition of the project, the Court and Tribunals Service is required to provide an Employment, Skills and Training Plan setting out the amount of careers created by the move and what training opportunities would be made available to neighbours.

Typically, developers can either provide a plan or an equivalent financial contribution to support employment, skills and training development elsewhere.

In this case, the courts service will agree to provide an employment plan with the council before it occupies both buildings.

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The project for the county and family courts to move was unanimously approved by councillors on Wednesday, April 24.

The approval was for both bringing the Carbon building into use and changes to Highbridge House, which is listed owing to it dating back to the 1800s and its  ‘architectural significance’ thanks to the Doric columns used at its main entrance.

You can view the approved project by typing in references 231190 and 231191 into the council’s planning portal.