A developer’s bid to turn a dilapidated office building into dozens of flats has been scrapped as plans to demolish the site altogether have been left undecided.

Fitzwilliam House on Skimped Hill Lane has sat empty for some years after becoming ‘dated both internally and externally’.

The building has been part of the town centre since 1973 and reaches six storeys tall. It used to house Bracknell’s job centre and more recently was the base for NHS Berkshire Healthcare’s head office.

Plans to convert the empty building into 78 flats came as a decision has not been made over a previous proposal to bulldoze the site altogether.

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In 2020, the Bracknell Regeneration Partnership proposed total demolition of the building, replacing it with modern offices.

Bracknell Forest Council told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that approval was yet to be given as a legal agreement had not been completed between the authority and developer.

Known as a section 106 agreement, this sets out how the development will be completed and often involves a payment to the council from developers.

In the second planning proposal, developers ECH SPV wanted to turn the building into 78 flats.

Planning agents argued that the town-centre location was sustainable for potential future occupants, being a short walk from the Lexicon, Peel Centre and Bracknell and Wokingham College.

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It would be made up of all one-bedroom apartments, of which 57 would be for one person and 21 would be for a couple.

With parts of the building ranging from four to six storeys tall, all six would have been turned into flats.

Potential residents would be able to park at the adjacent Skimped Hill car park.

But plans have since been withdrawn before a decision could be made.

No issues had been raised by consultees of the planning process, including environmental health and noise impact assessors.

Plans for the demolition of the site remain undecided.

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If they go ahead, a new office building of 1,300 square metres would be built, almost tripling the floorspace of the current site.

It would also increase the height of the building to seven storeys tall.

Both competing applications highlighted Bracknell town centre’s regeneration as a reason to approve the development.

The centre will see nearly 1,000 new homes built along with a new market square, shops and commercial office spaces.