Bear Wharf occupies a site within the city centre of Reading alongside the River Kennet and adjacent to the Oracle Shopping Centre.  The site measures some 90 metres along the riverside with a depth back to Fobney Street of approximately 25 to 30 metres.

The developer required a high density and high quality open market scheme containing a mix of two and three bedroom flats with each having one secure allocated car space. The flats were to be varied in size, outlook and external character. The scheme was to provide a distinctive landmark in this part of Reading and to set new standards and values for new residential accommodation within the City Centre. The scheme was also intended to provide a pleasant environment for the general public and encourage pedestrian movement from The Oracle along Fobney Street or the towpath and on to the city centre areas to the north and west The scheme is conceived as series of linked structures having the character of riverside warehouses and other substantial nineteenth century commercial structures that are commonly seen elsewhere within the City Centre.

The street level is occupied by a plinth containing covered parking for all the apartments above. A series of communal lobbies are accessed directly from Fobney Street. The towpath is retained along the riverside with a new ramp down to it from Bridge Street to the east. A sense of human scale and interest is created by a series of warehouse style door openings onto the towpath that provide ventilation to the parking area and include a number of wider sitting areas from which to view the River Kennet.

The elevational treatment and scale relates to the varying nature of existing adjacent built form at the eastern and western ends of the site. At the eastern end the new building is more informal in character and of only three residential levels reflecting its proximity to the Maltings building (now a restaurant) and the new public open space created to the north. The improved towpath encourages public access to this new square from the east and the Oracle Complex.

The central section of the scheme has a series of projecting gable ends facing the riverside with openings and external detailing intended to be evocative of the Victorian dockside warehouse buildings that were once here. These rise upwards to the east from four residential levels to five.

The western end of the scheme culminates in seven residential levels and is more formal in character to address the scale and mass of the adjacent Oracle building as well as its own prominent position on Bridge Street and general views from the south.   The architectural detail is intended to emulate the ornate C19 commercial scale buildings seen elsewhere in the centre of Reading and which contribute to its particular character. The two uppermost floors contain four duplex apartments with particularly fine views across the locality and the wider city.

Bear Wharf continues the regeneration of this part of the City Centre and provides an attractive, visually varied and interesting addition to the cityscape and encourages increased pedestrian movement and street level vitality in the locality