Blog - A successful year for Reading, despite it all!
9th December 2022
Nigel Horton-Baker, Executive Director of REDA, looks back on 2022 and finds lots of signs of success, despite the tail of the pandemic and the global economic challenges.
As we gallop towards 2023 I have been reflecting on the year we have had and realised how much there was to celebrate in Reading despite the impacts of the COVID years and underlying economic shocks that have affected our businesses and residents. We are seeing the back of two years in which REDA is proud that, with our many partners, we have helped thousands of local people move forward in the jobs market or into self-employment, thus softening the impact of COVID.
My memories of this year can be summarised in resilience, our core strength, green as our colour, innovation our driver of success and connectivity our golden thread. While we remain a defacto city rather than one with the Government’s blessing, we have shown the strength of our communities as support those in need and peoples from war-torn countries.
Reading’s economic recovery was flagged as early as January this year when EY identified us as making the fastest economic recovery from the pandemic in the UK, with Reading’s productivity already 4% above the 2019 level and forecast to out-perform our regional rivals in the years up to 2025.
By May, the signs of economic resilience were encouraging: the PwC Demos Growth for Cities had ranked Reading in the UK top five cities for good economic growth; the Sunday Times had found Reading to be one of the top ten best places to live; Lambert Smith Hampton’s Vitality Survey had ranked Reading fourth in the UK’s 100 largest towns and cities outside London as a great place to live and do business; the Centre for Cities annual report clearly identified the recipe for Reading’s success as being our high concentration of technology and knowledge-based companies, very high performance in our schools, high productivity levels and our highly skilled workforce. While all these reports recognise Reading as a city, it seems the Government didn’t get the memo! Fourth time unlucky again! But we haven’t let that detail stop our ambition.
Perhaps the biggest story of Reading’s year was the final connection of the Elizabeth Line, joining us seamlessly to the West End, the City and Canary Wharf and providing even quicker routes to London Heathrow Airport. The Crossrail/Elizabeth Line effect has been very evident over the last three to four years in the tsunami of property developments across Reading; Huntley Wharf almost complete, Station Hill catapulted out of the ground, Campus Reading, the former Reading International Business Park, and Apex Plaza both re imagined. And Reading Borough Council launched its search for a development partner for the Minster Quarter Central site, the last major brownfield site in Reading town centre. Retail property hasn’t lagged behind either - the Oracle Shopping Centre celebrated its 50th year with plans to reinvent itself through redeveloping spaces for residential and leisure facilities while John Lewis Reading has confirmed Reading will remain one of its flagship stores whilst also confirming plans to repurpose part of its estate in Reading for residential use.
Innovation again was at the forefront in 2022. The world’s largest and longest network of drone superhighways was given the go-ahead by the UK Government, based on technology created in Reading by Altitude Angel. The superhighway will connect airspace, including that above Reading, over the next two years, allowing the time sensitive transportation of medical items and organs, police and fire service applications as well as high value low volume goods.
Shinfield Studios and Cine Valley on Thames Valley Science Park really took off this year, putting Reading on the global film map, bringing Hollywood and Disney to the heart of Berkshire with the first 4 of 18 studios now completed and operational.
Among the company relocations and expansions were EY Reading, Rapid7, a global cybersecurity company, MiCiM Limited, Milan Beauty Technologies Limited and US-based software company, Egnyte, which specialises in data security, file sharing, compliance and governance in one platform.
The University of Reading proved itself again to be a leading research-led university when it was presented with a Queen’s Anniversary Prize, the highest national honour for a UK institution in higher and further education, for its work on climate change. The campus is set to become home to the largest cluster of weather and climate scientists in the world when a new state-of-the-art headquarters for the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) opens in 2024.
This neatly leads into my thinking that ‘green’ was Reading’s colour in 2022, as it will be for years to come, I am sure. 2022 was the year the Reading #climatestripes went global. The University of Reading's climate research and its visual depiction through the climate stripes graphic created by Professor Ed Hawkins is reaching new audiences. Reading Football Club have incorporated the stripes into the 2022/23 home kit as part of their work to reduce their carbon footprint, Greta Thunberg's new book uses the stripes on its cover. You can also see the stripes on a bus operated by one of the country's most forward looking bus companies, Reading Buses.
Still on the green theme, the Council has successfully bid for £26 million of investment in Reading's bus services and a further £1 million in carbon reduction measures at brand new leisure sites at Palmer Park and Rivermead, including solar panels and air source heat pumps. At the Reading Climate Festival, we celebrated, discussed and exchanged knowledge about the state of our planet and how we could all play our part in reversing global warming and achieve our goal of becoming a Net Zero, climate resilient town by 2030. The Council with Reading Buses also made the Net Zero 50 List in the UK. In November, NatWest, Ethical Reading, Crowe, REDA and Green Park/ Mapletree teamed up for the Reading Climate Fayre, which is set to be an annual climate event in the Reading business calendar to help local businesses address the impact of climate change. The event rounded off a year in which more than 1,300 aquatic plants have added a wildlife-friendly splash of greenery on the Kennet & Avon Canal with support from the Canal & River Trust, together with the Oracle Centre and Reading Abbey Quarter BID.
As a place that is thoughtful and welcoming and proud of its heritage we welcomed new visitors with a year-long campaign celebrating 200 years since the opening of the Huntley and Palmers biscuit factory in Reading with a light trail, walks, talks, exhibitions and biscuit themed afternoon teas at the Roseate Reading. Reading’s place as the departure point on the long distance walking route, the St James’ Way, which retraces the medieval pilgrimage route from Reading Abbey to the south coast and on to Spain – has been waymarked along all 70 miles this year. The signage, undertaken by the Confraternity of St James, dovetails with Reading for Modern Pilgrims, a project led by REDA which aims to attract visitors to Reading to explore Reading’s historic and current day links with one of the world’s most famous walking routes, the Camino de Santiago in north-west Spain.
We had wonderful international cultural festivals in the town centre this year including the Carnival of the World by Culture Mix Arts and the Diwali festival of light celebration organised by Kala The Arts, the leading South Asian dance organisation.
On a more serious note, the Reading Ukrainian Community Centre has been overwhelmed with donations from businesses and residents welcoming and supporting those fleeing their country due to the invasion. A safe haven for advice, guidance and support was set up in the Community Place on the third floor of Reading Central Library to support the arrival of the refugees.
Reading Pubwatch, which works to create a safe, secure and social drinking environment in all licensed premises in the town, was named Pubwatch of the Year at the House of Lords in November. Reading Pubwatch works so well due to the close partnership between all the night-time economy stakeholders - Thames Valley Police, Reading Borough Council, Street Pastors, First Stop First Aid, Reading Business Improvement District, the CAP and the Town Safe Radio scheme.
As we near the end of 2022 and we look forward, 2023 is already beginning to look an exciting year for Reading with Station Hill becoming a major landmark in the town and ambitious plans for the regeneration of Friar Street approved this week. Thanks to everyone who has worked in partnership with REDA in 2022. We look forward to an even more successful 2023 for all our businesses, employees and residents.
