Bracknell’s council has committed to a massive £4.6 million redevelopment of its Commercial Centre into a depot site.

The Commercial Centre, located in Old Bracknell Lane West, currently serves as the home of the council’s transport team, Unison, and the council’s contractor partners.

But the site has previously been described as being in ‘a very poor state of repair’ – which has prompted Bracknell Forest Council to redevelop it.

The transformation would involve demolishing all current buildings and replacing them with new offices and warehouses over a period of three years.

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Plans for the redevelopment of the commercial centre appeared in December 2020. At a meeting on Tuesday, June 1, Bracknell Forest Council’s executive committee triggered the procurement process for the works.

At the meeting, Councillor Mrs Dorothy Hayes MBE, executive member for the environment, said: “This site needs updating for the future of climate change, recycling, waste and highways.

“This will commence the plans and make things better for our partners, and ourselves, and our residents, so I support it immensely.”

The decision means that the council will now begin buying supplies and hiring contractors to undertake the works. However, the redevelopment will not be undertaken for quite some time, as main contractor for the works will not be selected until January 2022.

A spokesperson for the council said all the teams and contractors will remain at the site while construction work starts. They added that there would be a clear separation between the contractor’s compound and the remaining part of the site.

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The council’s contract partners based at the Commercial Centre are Continental Landscapes grounds maintenance company; Ringway, a highway maintenance company; and Suez recycling and recovery company.

The procurement process was began subject to a call-in, which means that the redevelopment will go ahead, but back bench and opposition councillors are allowed to challenge the decision and force a new meeting and/or vote on the decision within a set period of time.

Bracknell Forest Council’s executive committee is made up entirely of Conservatives.