Thames Valley Park

Thames Valley Park

Location within Reading
Location Reading, Berkshire, UK
Address Thames Valley Park
Reading
RG6 1AD
Coordinates 51°27′41″N 0°55′52″W / 51.461451°N 0.931182°W / 51.461451; -0.931182
Developer Speyhawks
Website thamesvalleypark.co.uk
David Lloyd Health & Fitness Club.

Thames Valley Park is a high-tech business park adjacent to the River Thames on the eastern outskirts of Reading in the English county of Berkshire.

Location and companies

The park partially lies within the civil parish of Sonning. Close by are the Ali's Pond Local Nature Reserve, with paths and large ponds, and Sonning Hill.

Companies based at the park include Steria, SGI, Regus, BG Group, Websense, Oracle, Microsoft, and ING Direct.[1]

The park is at the northern terminus of the A3290 (formerly part of the A329(M)) giving good connections to the M4 and A4. Originally the A329(M) was supposed to follow the river west from the park towards a junction with Vastern Road.[2]

There is a free bus service between Thames the park and Reading railway station,[3] with good connections for London and Heathrow Airport.

A railway station to serve the park was proposed in the 1998 Reading Borough Local Plan,[4] on the site of the coal sidings of the closed Earley power station. As at April 2013, the station had not been built.


The Development

The development (by Speyhawks) is built on well over a million cubic meters of pulverised fuel ash, from the power station, to bury the ash, gravels were extracted, and used for the construction of the A329(M) extension, this funded a large part of both the Reading Cross Town Route (A329(M) ) (Thames valley Park Drive) and TVP development. The works were under two separate contracts, completed by Fairclough Civil Engineering - Egham Office. There is a deep pumping station for the development in the centre of the TVP roundabout installed by Trant Contractors. Access is through a tunnel under the Paddington to Exeter railway line from Sutton Seeds Roundabout, dig using the driven shoe method, then precast tunnel sections were installed as linings.

The Green park, is not a natural feature, it was built at the end of the developments, ensuring the flood plain was reinstated and biodiversity improved.

Evidence of the old power station is now restricted to a V shaped ditch, running into the Thames near the TVP roundabout to the north west, this was shortened to the point where the outfall of TVP stormwater drainage, and A329(m) drainage meet.

Access west into the Reading town, was designed into the roundabout adjacent to the railway line, its levels and layout reflect this, which in some way make its current configuration notable.

Panorama of Microsoft UK Headquarters taken from Microsoft Reception Bus Stop

The road was one of the first designed using ground probing radar, which identified some soft ground features prior to commencement of works. The dual carriageway is constructed on a geotextile, because of the soft nature of the floodplain, and raised above it to avoid disruption during flooding, the roadways is then built upon a layer of chalk to sub-base level.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Companies". Thames Valley Business Park. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
  2. ↑ "AA map showing A329(M) extension". Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  3. ↑ "Reading Station and Town Centre to Thames Valley Park". Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  4. ↑ http://ww2.reading.gov.uk/documents/servingyou/planning/borough_plan/bp_appendix8.pdf
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