| Reading Civic Centre | |
|---|---|
 Reading Civic Centre in 2011 | |
  Location within Reading Town Centre | |
| General information | |
| Type | Civic centre |
| Location | Reading,Berkshire, UK |
| Coordinates | 51°27′13″N0°58′37″W / 51.453519°N 0.976989°W /51.453519; -0.976989 |
| Construction started | 1976 |
| Completed | 1978 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall & Partners |
Reading Civic Centre was acivic centre in the town ofReading, itself in theEnglish county ofBerkshire. The centre dated from the mid-1970s.
Prior to the 16th century, civic administration for the town of Reading was situated in theYield Hall, aguild hall situated by theRiver Kennet near today'sYield Hall Lane. After a brief stay in what later becameGreyfriars Church, the town council created a new town hall by inserting an upper floor into the refectory of theHospitium of St John, the formerhospitium ofReading Abbey. This was to remain the site of Reading's civic administration, through the successive re-buildings that eventually created today'sReading Town Hall, until the 1970s.[1][2][3][4]
By the 1950s the administration of the town of Reading had overflowed the available offices in the Town Hall, and the council decided to build new civic offices. The decision was taken to build these at the opposite end of the town centre from the Town Hall, where land was available followingslum clearance.[4] The architect for the new civic offices was the firm ofRobert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall & Partners, who also designed the new police station and Hexagon theatre. The new Civic Centre was officially opened byQueen Elizabeth II in May 1978.[5][6]
In 2014, the civic offices were deemed to be at the end of its design life and the council gave approval for demolition.[7] The civic offices were demolished between 2015 and 2016.[8][9][10]
The civic centre originally comprised four adjacent and interlinked buildings. All four buildings were positioned around the southern and western sides of an above-ground public plaza, with the area below the buildings and plaza given over to service roads and car parking structures.[11]
Whilst the plaza, police station, magistrates court and theatre are still extant and in use for their original purposes, the civic offices became empty after Reading Borough Council relocated their offices toBridge Street in 2014, and the civic offices were demolished between 2015 and 2016.[10]
