Arts centre plan for prison could be filed in 2027

An architect shaping the plan to transform the former Reading Gaol into an arts centre said a first planning application could be submitted next year.

The Ziran Education Foundation, established by Chinese businessman Channing Bi, bought the site from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) for £7m in January 2024.

Lead architect for the project Grace Tian said its plan will be divided into two phases. The first would seek to transform the prison and supporting buildings and the second would seek to build a new hotel complex.

The 19th Century prison has sat empty since the MoJ shut it for the final time in 2014.

Tian said the project is "quite complicated" because the site is designated as a scheduled ancient monument and was built on the Reading Abbey site.

She said architects held a meeting with Reading Council in June and that the project was formally restarted, after architects previously employed were replaced, in September.

A first formal pre-planning meeting with the council is expected next month, Tian added.

Tian added: "Everybody knows its history and its culture related to Oscar Wilde and Banksy. It has huge opportunities.

"In parallel with the design team we are working hard to make it commercially viable and to make it more sustainable in the future in terms of operation and viability."

The prison is probably best known for being the place where Wilde was incarcerated between 1895 and 1897 for gross indecency - effectively for being gay. He wrote the poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol following his release.

Celebrated street artist Banksy added artwork to the jail's outside wall in 2021, which Bi has previously said will stay.