ONE Station Hill, the speculative 275,000 sq ft Super Prime office in the heart of Reading has been recognised with the national trophy for Commercial Workspace of the Year at a special ceremony in central London for the prestigious British Council for Offices (BCO) Awards. This follows the building’s previous success at the BCO Regional Awards for the South of England and South Wales where it was similarly recognised at a regional level.
ONE Station Hill – designed by leading international architect Gensler – is located directly outside the Reading main line and Elizabeth line station. It is part of the transformational development, forming the gateway element in the wider Station Hill masterplan which offers a connected live-work-play experience to people living and working in the Thames Valley. The office building, which is arranged across lower ground and ground floors and fifteen upper floors, is already home to a range of global tenants including PepsiCo, PwC, Kenvue and NewFlex.
The judges praised ONE Station Hill as a landmark development that is redefining urban living and working in Reading, playing a pivotal role in regeneration. They described ONE Station Hill as ‘an uplifting building which puts Reading into a new class of the business market’.
The panel also commended ONE Station Hill for its forward-thinking design, tailored to meet the evolving needs of the modern workforce and attract top talent. The building offers an impressive array of amenities that promote a positive and healthy work-life balance – including rooftop yoga – set within two acres of landscaped public realm with enhanced pedestrian accessibility. As well as being an all-electric building using air source heat pumps and extensive smart building technology, ONE Station Hill targets BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ certification, a Platinum ‘WELL’ score and an EPC ‘A’ rating.
One of the BCO’s primary objectives is to define excellence in office space. As part of this objective, its annual Awards Programme provides public recognition for top quality design and functionality and a benchmark for excellence in workplaces. The programme acknowledges innovation and focuses external attention on examples of best practice. In this year’s BCO Awards, ONE Station Hill was competing with other exceptional commercial developments across the UK including London’s 40 Leadenhall in the City of London and other regional winners across the UK.
This award recognition follows a recent BCO report proposing a reclassification of office grading, with Station Hill among the developments identified as meeting the criteria for a new ‘Super Prime’ category (see here).
Station Hill continues to gain industry acclaim, having been recognised by the CoStar Impact Awards earlier this year. The wider development also secured the title of Regeneration Project of the Year at the Thames Valley Property Awards in September. In addition, Station Hill has been shortlisted for two accolades at the Estates Gazette Awards and three at the Royal Berkshire Property Awards, further reinforcing its status as a benchmark market-leading development.
ONE Station Hill forms part of a more extensive 2.5 million sq ft (232,257 sq m) mixed-use development, which includes a total of 625,000 sq ft (58,064 sq m) of best-in-class office space and up to 1,300 homes, 598 of which have already been delivered in the neighbouring Ebb & Flow Build-to-Rent residential community.
The project also includes 95,000 sq ft (8,825 sq m) of lifestyle-led retail and leisure space and is set to welcome a range of new F&B brands including London-based coffee roasters, Notes, Italian-style trattoria, Angelos and café 1650 Coffee Co.
Callum Thorneycroft, Managing Director, MGT Investment Management —said: “This prestigious recognition from the British Council for Offices is testament to the quality offering which Station Hill provides, creating a dynamic, collaborative and amenity-rich destination in the heart of one of the UK’s fastest-growing urban centre economies. ONE Station Hill is now over 70 per cent let with global occupiers PwC, PepsiCo, Kenvue (Johnson & Johnson) and NewFlex embracing our vision of a vibrant, regenerated and transformed gateway to Reading.
“Station Hill is breathing new life into the capital of the Thames Valley, combining London-grade office space, award-winning new homes and a number of high-profile retail tenants set to open this year. With strong leasing momentum and further announcements in the pipeline, Station Hill has now established Reading’s position as a focal point for commercial innovation, collaboration and long-term growth in the Thames Valley.”
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