A huge office building in the heart of Bracknell is set to be converted into dozens of flats.
The Columbia Centre is a six-storey office building situated opposite the train station and the bus station in Bracknell town centre.
It is currently occupied by the Citizens Advice organisation, which occupies an office on the ground floor.
However, the rest of the building appears unoccupied, with its website showing that 14 units are available.
Columbia Bracknell Limited, the company that owns the building, has recently won permission to convert it into 80 flats from Bracknell Forest Council.
The project will create 66 one-bedroom apartments and 14 two-bedroom apartments.
The application was considered by planning officer Simon Roskilly, who had to assess it on planning rules allowing the conversion of commercial properties into housing set by the government.
The main issue was over whether future occupants would have access to adequate natural light in all habitable rooms provided.
Mr Roskilly’s report states: “The architect has designed the rooms in the apartments which adhere to the Building Research Establishment (BRE) guidance and the rooms and spaces achieve good levels of natural light and the use of sympathetic artificial light, ensuring that these rooms and flats will have a pleasant environment to be enjoyed.”
Developers conducting conversion projects must also ensure that future occupants are not adversely impacted by noise from surrounding buildings.
A report from Sandy Brown, a consultant in acoustics, noise and vibration, stated: “ The dominant noise source was road traffic along The Ring and Market Street. There are no existing industrial or commercial noise sources that are expected to result in adverse noise impact on the occupiers of the proposed development due to the proposed change of use.
“The nearest affected noise sensitive premises have been identified and limits for noise from mechanical services plant associated with the development set in accordance with guidelines.”
Other issues addressed included parking provision and impacts that could arise from contaminated land.
The Columbia Centre has its own 133-space multi-storey car park, above the minimum of 72 spaces for an 80-home development in the town centre.
Any concerns about contaminated land had not been submitted by the council’s environmental health team at the time of writing.
The conversion was noted in a report to the council’s planning committee in December 2025.
But because the project was approved under permitted development rights, it was removed from the discussion on the meeting agenda.
No one objected to the conversion project either.
The approval is subject to planning conditions being met and no objections being raised by the council’s environmental health team.
You can view the approved application by typing the reference 25/00674/PAE into the council’s planning portal.
