Have your say on the exciting proposals to adapt and regenerate the former Pincent’s Manor Hotel site. We very much look forward to sharing our proposals with you for:

Your chance to have your say

We’re excited to bring extra care housing for the over-55s to the former Pincents Manor hotel in Tilehurst. The Grade II listed Tudor farmhouse has remained redundant since 2018, when the hotel closed its doors.

We are now submitting a planning application this month (December 2021) to West Berkshire Council that will see 50 apartments, communal facilities, wellbeing care services and the restoration of the farmhouse. The brownfield site will also follow a landscape and bio-diversity strategy that will boost wildlife and deliver a sensory garden, kitchen garden and orchard amongst many other green features such as electric vehicle charging points and renewable energy sources.

A public exhibition took place on September 17-19th at St Joseph’s Church Hall in Tilehurst, which displayed early plans for the extra-care retirement community on the site of the former hotel. The three-day event provided interested residents, West Berkshire Council councillors and healthcare professionals with the opportunity to view and comment on the detailed proposals.

This feedback will form a part of the planning application submitted this month. The public exhibition followed a far-reaching campaign of door-to-door engagement, advertising and a succession of presentations to West Berkshire Council, Tilehurst Parish Council, Holybrook Parish Council and resident associations.

The former Pincents Manor Hotel is located in Calcot/Tilehurst along Pincents Lane just past the Ikea and Dunelm. The Pincents Manor Hotel ceased trading in 2018 and struggled to find alternative uses for the site.

Having fallen into disrepair, the listed farmhouse and surrounding buildings have become a target of vandalism and anti-social behaviour.

Having purchased the site, AHH have secured the area and could see the benefits that regeneration would bring to the local community.

Last year, we submitted a planning application for a care home on the site. We then withdrew these plans after in-depth consultations with West Berkshire Council’s Adult Social-Care department that highlighted a more pressing need for affordable, extra-care housing.

We are now in the process of submitting a planning application to adapt Pincents Manor to 50 affordable extra-care homes. These are independent retirement living apartments with on-site care and wellbeing services that will have huge health and financial benefits to our homeowners.

The creation of extra-care housing has a many other far-reaching benefits that include relieving the pressure on the NHS and local government, local job creation and freeing up houses for families and first-time buyers.

We recognised the need for an extra-care residential community, which will be able to provide real benefits to the local community. e are in early discussions with West Berkshire Council about our new extra-care residential community.

Pincents Manor will be a mix of 50 affordable retirement and extra-care homes. The scheme will be a mix of 1 and 2 bed apartments, that are enabling for a range of impairments such as mobility, hearing, visual and cognitive. The apartments are adaptable for the future needs of the residents; with the 1 bed units reserved for those with higher levels of care need and situated close to communal facilities.

The Affordable Housing and Healthcare Group is committed to the development of affordable communities, our ambition is to bring our solution to the borough, delivering affordability and care to the region for all.

In partnership with Government body, Homes England we offer high-quality and regulated affordable housing, so we can help older people to stay in their own homes and be provided with the best quality care. All at an extremely low cost compared with typical care environments.

We have worked hard to achieve a design for our extra-care community that blends seamlessly with the landscape and is sympathetic to its setting.

We’re greatly increasing the number of trees with new mature trees for instant habitats and screening to make a positive contribution to the environment. It’s important to us that we increase the biodiversity of the site, with high quality landscaping to create green corridors, linking green infrastructure within the area.

We are working hard with the ecology team at West Berkshire Council to nurture and protect wildlife. Our initial assessment has found that the general biodiversity of the site is low, although the boundary trees are an important resource for bats and birds.

It has been recommended in our initial surveys that any development should incorporate roosting features for bats and nesting features for birds. We will achieve this by the installation of bat and bird boxes which will form part of the delivered development.

The existing pond is also going to expanded for greater biodiversity.

Our proposed extra-care community will be accessed both by vehicles and pedestrians from the existing main entrance on Pincents Lane. From our discussions with traffic consultants this would create considerably less traffic than was previously experienced as a hotel.

When the site is complete there will be parking spaces available and a car share club. Older homeowners also tend to rely less on their own transport or and so any traffic impact would be negligible.

From Pincents Lane, passers-by will also still be able to see the views to the west.

We are determined that the history of Pincents Manor will be at the forefront of our proposed plan. It is a well known and loved building in the community, so it has been kept at the forefront of our plans, with a 15m green buffer around it that is free from substantial built form.  This ensures it can be seen as the centre of the new community that will be created there.

By maintaining a clear space around the building we are respecting its heritage status. Crucially, our scheme resets the arrangement of buildings on the site that is in keeping with the original historical setting.

We are working closely with the Conservation Officer at West Berkshire Council to protect these cultural assets that belong to the community. Pincents Manor, regardless of its age it is still structurally sound and capable of being converted into a care based residential use, with little internal alteration or rebuilding.

We take our design and architecture cues not from the modern heavy commercial and industrial areas surrounding the site to the east, but we look to the west and the traditional barnyards and farmhouses.

The additional buildings will respect the character of the listed heritage asset and compliment it. The Tilehurst area has a venerable history as one of many local brick kiln sites that created traditional ‘Reading Red’ brick stock. Homage will be paid to this in using similar heritage bricks and local Reading brick.

This arrangement in the Northern section of the site will appear as a collection of barn buildings, subservient to the manor house, with covered colonnaded walkways within to facilitate connections and accessibility.

To contrast with the listed farmhouse, the proposed design seeks to create a contemporary take on agricultural architecture, that will highlight details of the existing building and enhance its setting. This will be through a combination of high quality modern materials and simplified form.

Interest will be picked up in small architectural details that do not distract from the buildings when seen from a distance.

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Sustainability for the environment is crucial. Our proposals reflect both the need for sustainable development that is environmentally compatible with the local area, and one that promotes green living.