The Old Pump House Reading
In the quiet corner of a Berkshire garden sits an extraordinary series of buildings, previously used as a water filtration plant and originally built as part of a WW2 Italian Prisoner of War Camp. The Nissen huts and timber sleeping quarters are long gone, but the brick structures and brick water filtration beds are still standing.
Through the construction of a new house for a young family, this project seeks to rescue, restore and preserve this unique set of buildings with a piece of architecture that celebrates the history of this extraordinary WW2 site.
Working closely with Plainview Planning Consultants, a planning application has been made to Wokingham Council. The house seeks planning permission through the National Planning Policy Frameworks ‘paragraph 55’ clause, which allows outstanding new homes to be built in the countryside and the Green Belt. The application also highlights the special circumstances of being able to preserve a unique historic site.
Our proposals for this site are a response to the surviving ruins, but also make reference to, and seek inspiration from, the vanished structures which once completed this unusual settlement.
