| Shire Hall, Reading | |
|---|---|
 Shire Hall | |
  Shire Hall Location within Berkshire | |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Brutalist style |
| Address | Shinfield Park, Reading |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 51°24′57″N0°57′16″W / 51.4157°N 0.9545°W Coordinates: 51°24′57″N0°57′16″W / 51.4157°N 0.9545°W |
| Completed | 1981 |
The Shire Hall is a former municipal building at Shinfield Park just south of Reading, Berkshire. It was the headquarters of Berkshire County Council from 1981 to 1998.
For much of the 20th century the administration of Berkshire County Council had been carried out in the old Shire Hall in The Forbury while meetings of the full council had taken place in the assize courts next door. [1] Following implementation of the Local Government Act 1972, which increased the responsibilities of the county council, county leaders chose to procure a new purpose-built county headquarters: the site they initially selected was at Abbey Wharf off King's Road, [2] [3] but after considerable debate, they opted for a site which would be easier to develop on open land on the southern part of the Shinfield Park estate. [4] [lower-alpha 1]
The new Shire Hall, which was designed in the Brutalist style and built at a cost of £27.5 million, [9] was completed in 1981. [10] The design involved seven low-rise octagonal shaped buildings which all featured continuous bands of glazing with concrete panels above and below; an emergency control centre was established in the basement in case of a nuclear attack. [11] The complex was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 2 April 1982. [12]
However following a review by the Local Government Commission the Government decided to transfer the responsibilities of the County Council to unitary authorities and the building became surplus to requirements in 1998. [13] It became the local offices of Foster Wheeler in March 2000 [10] and then, in October 2017, of Wood Group. [14]
Reading is a historic large market town in Berkshire, England, in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers Thames and Kennet. It is on the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, 40 miles (64 km) east of Swindon, 25 miles (40 km) south of Oxford, 40 miles (64 km) west of London, 15 miles (24 km) north of Basingstoke, 13 miles (21 km) southwest of Maidenhead and 15 miles (24 km) east of Newbury. Reading is a major commercial centre, especially for information technology and insurance. It is also a regional retail centre, serving a large area of the Thames Valley, and home to the University of Reading. Every year it hosts the Reading Festival, one of England's biggest music festivals. Among its sports teams are Reading Football Club and Reading Hockey Club, and over 15,000 runners annually compete in the Reading Half Marathon.
Oxfordshire is a landlocked county in the far west of the government statistical region of South East England. The ceremonial county borders Warwickshire to the north-west, Northamptonshire to the north-east, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, Wiltshire to the south-west and Gloucestershire to the west.
Reading Abbey is a large, ruined abbey in the centre of the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. It was founded by Henry I in 1121 "for the salvation of my soul, and the souls of King William, my father, and of King William, my brother, and Queen Maud, my wife, and all my ancestors and successors." In its heyday the abbey was one of Europe's largest royal monasteries. The traditions of the Abbey are continued today by the neighbouring St James's Church, which is partly built using stones of the Abbey ruins.
Berkshire is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berkshire in 1957 because of the presence of Windsor Castle, and letters patent were issued in 1974. Berkshire is a county of historic origin, a ceremonial county and a non-metropolitan county without a county council. The county town is Reading.
Earley is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Wokingham, Berkshire, England. Along with the neighbouring town of Woodley. The Office for National Statistics places Earley within the Reading/Wokingham Urban Area; for the purposes of local government it falls within the Borough of Wokingham, outside the area of Reading Borough Council. The name is sometimes spelt Erleigh or Erlegh. The town consists of a number of smaller areas, including Maiden Erlegh and Lower Earley, and lies some 3 miles (5 km) south and east of the centre of Reading, and some 4 miles (6 km) northwest of Wokingham. It has a population of around 32,000. In 2014, the RG6 postcode area was rated one of the most desirable postcode areas to live in England. The main campus of the University of Reading, Whiteknights Park, lies partly in Earley and partly in the borough of Reading.
The Borough of Wokingham is a local government district in Berkshire, United Kingdom. It is named after its main town, Wokingham. Other places in the district include Arborfield, Barkham, Charvil, Earley, Finchampstead, Hurst, Sonning, Remenham, Ruscombe, Shinfield, Twyford, Wargrave, Three Mile Cross, Winnersh, Spencers Wood and Woodley.
Woodley is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Wokingham, Berkshire, England, four miles (6.4 km) east of Reading and joined to the neighbouring town of Earley, two miles (3.2 km) to the west, and five miles (8 km) from Wokingham. Nearby are the villages of Sonning, Twyford, Winnersh, Hurst and Charvil.
The Council of the Royal County of Berkshire, also known as the Berkshire County Council, was the top-tier local government administrative body for Berkshire from 1889 to 1998. The local authority had responsibilities for education, social services, public transport, planning, emergency services and waste disposal, and had 87 members. Berkshire County Council shared power with six lower-tier district councils, each of which directed local matters.
Reading East is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Matt Rodda, of the Labour Party. The seat is one of two won by a Labour candidate in 2017 from a total of eight covering Berkshire. Rodda's 2017 win was one of 30 net gains of the Labour Party.
Wokingham is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom since 1987 by John Redwood, a Conservative.
Spencers Wood is a village in the civil parish of Shinfield, Berkshire, England, 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Reading. The village of Three Mile Cross adjoins it to the north. To the west lies the village of Grazeley.
Park Place is a historic Grade II Listed country house and gardens in the civil parish of Remenham in Berkshire, England, set in large grounds above the River Thames near Henley, Oxfordshire.
Shinfield is a village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire, just south of Reading. It contains 4,313 acres (17.45 km2) and is administered by the unitary authority of Wokingham District. Shinfield Park is the northern part of the parish, becoming physically separated when the M4 motorway was constructed in 1971.
Historically, the English county of Berkshire has been bordered to the north by the ancient boundary of the River Thames. However, much of the border with Oxfordshire in the western part of the county was moved in 1974.
Grazeley is an area covering the small villages of Grazeley in the civil parish of Shinfield and Grazeley Green in the civil parish of Wokefield, 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. To the east is the village of Spencers Wood, to the west is Wokefield and to the south is Beech Hill.
RAF Shinfield Park was a Royal Air Force administrative site in the south of Reading, Berkshire. It served as the Met Office residential training college from 1971 until 2002. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts was built on part of the site in 1978.
The Roseate Reading Hotel is a boutique hotel in Reading, Berkshire, England. It is situated in the Forbury, formerly a part of Reading Abbey, and on the southern side of the modern Forbury Gardens. The building that forms the front section of the hotel was the Shire Hall for the County of Berkshire, built in 1911 and used as such until 1981, and is a grade II listed building.
Ebenezer Fuller Maitland FRS was an English landowner and politician.
Reading Crown Court is a judicial facility in Reading, Berkshire. It is a Grade II listed building.
The Shire Hall, Reading may refer to one of two different buildings in Reading that served as a Shire Hall for Berkshire County Council in the UK: