Bracknell Forest Council have announced the commencement of the next stage of the town centre regeneration project.

The second stage the building of will include 34 new homes and 18 new flats located on the edge of Bracknell Town Centre.

Bracknell's regeneration project started in 2017 with the construction of the multi-million pound shopping complex - The Lexicon.

The ceremony took place last Friday, November 4 when town councillors and developers officially broke ground.

Mike Woolliscroft, the Group Co-chief Executive for Countryside Partnerships said: “So here we’re delivering 52 new homes, 34 of which will be new houses and then there will be 18 apartments as well.

“These are designed to meet the needs of Bracknell society so they’ll be for first time buyers and downsizers as well as for families.

“25 percent of the homes are for affordable tenure. The development is also contributing over £600,000 worth of investment into the local community through additional public open space, community facilities and much more.”

The overall development will include a small park, landscaping cycle lanes and walkways. According the council sufficient parking has been planned for all houses within the development.

Chief Executive of Bracknell Forest Council, Susan Halliwell said: “Coopers Hill is a brilliant example of how Bracknell Forest is continuously committing to regenerating it’s place, making sure that we are supporting communities to be as cohesive as possible.

“This site is just the first of what we hope to be a brilliant partnership with Countryside Properties through the joint venture where we can start looking at other sites within Bracknell and to continue to regenerate Bracknell Forest to be the place that people want to live and work and the borough of choice.”

Cllr Marc Brunel-Walker, who was present at the ground-breaking said that he was ‘delighted to be standing' at the Coopers Hill site.

Cllr Marc Brunel Walker commented: “This is part of our property joint venture that we formed with Countryside to deliver a number of sites around the town centre. But most importantly, this is the next part of our part of the regeneration.

“We always said that the Lexicon was just the first part. Now this is about bringing homes, communities, places for people to live for families, much needed two, three and one bedroom places in the town centre and I’m really delighted that we’re here today for it.”

The next phase of The Lexicon regeneration was due to begin in 2022 which would bring 14 units to provide a new leisure and entertainment quarter called ‘The Deck’.

This however was originally pushed back due to a delay in beginning the development stage.

It was found by the Bracknell News in a FOI request earlier this year however that this estimated £19.9 million project is not expected to be completed until 2024. This is a second push back from the original date.