Affordable Homes Rise on Former Bracknell Site

Affordable homes are being built on a former recreational site for 3M staff off Cain Road in Bracknell. 3M still has hundreds of local employees based at its UK headquarters there.

The site once housed a social club with three tarmac tennis courts and a disconnected railway coach used to advertise 3M products. It fell out of use and an early plan to build homes emerged in 2019.

An outline plan was approved by Bracknell Forest Council in November 2020. The scheme was later revised up from 27 to 33 homes and approved in October 2023.

Foundations are now visible in drone photos by Styles Views of Binfield. The development will be accessed from a roundabout on Cain Road and is listed on the Construction Map for Considerate Constructors Scheme projects.

Feltham Construction began work in May. Wooldridge Developments secured planning permission and sold the land to Sovereign Network Group (SNG), which bought the project earlier this year.

All 33 homes will be offered at affordable rent for people on the council's housing register: 10 two-bed, 20 three-bed and three four-bed homes.

SNG signed a Section 106 agreement with the council in May and in March announced Feltham Construction would deliver the scheme. Jenny Grote, SNG Land and New Business Director for the South, said: "We're delighted to reach this important milestone. It marks a great step forward in our partnership with Feltham Construction and enables us to bring much-needed affordable housing to this site."

She added: "All the homes will be sustainable and built to our sector-leading Homes and Place Standard, ensuring high quality for generations to come."

You can view the approved application by typing reference 22/01008/FUL into the council's planning portal. SNG is one of England's largest social housing providers and is expanding in Bracknell via the Turnpike Road development and a partnership with The Hill Group for 113 homes at Beaufort Park.

In summer, CoStar News reported that 3M will relocate to Winnersh Triangle in 2027.

James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter