Media Releases

Ten Public Toilets To Be Refurbished

23/10/2008

Press Release

Ten public toilets across town are due to be renovated as part of a £900,000 borough-wide refurbishment programme.

Reading Borough Council will be spending more than a few pennies on public conveniences in the coming months, with work scheduled to begin this coming Monday (October 27) at the Meadway public toilets.

The widespread modernisation programme will see existing toilets demolished internally and either replaced by new facilities within the existing structure or with a replacement `stand alone' unit sited next to the existing site.

Both units - whether they are `inbuilds' or `stand alones' - will have the same toilet provision which are designed to the latest Disability Discrimination Act specification. Each unit will have a self cleaning toilet seat and floor washing after each use.

After work has been completed at Meadway, the team will move on to Prospect Park for the second leg of the refurbishment programme before moving on to the remaining eight sites. The ten-month refurbishment programme is due to be completed in September 2009.

Paul Gittings, Lead Councillor for Environment at Reading Borough Council, said: "This is a near-million pound investment by the council in state-of-the-art public lavatories and while it is sometimes easy to treat these things lightly, providing safe, clean and modern public conveniences is a very important part of what we do. I hope, when completed, our residents and visitors to the town will notice the difference."

A full list of the public toilets to be renovated are:

Meadway
Prospect Park
Whitehouse
Albert Road
Northumberland Ave
Cintra Park
Thameside Prom
Whitley Street
Wilson Road

The tenth toilets to be upgraded are those on Hosier Street, but the detail of this site will be agreed when plans for new Civic Offices are finalised.

The work is being carried out by contractors Healthmatic, based in Calne, Wiltshire.

ENDS

Notes for Editors: PHOTOCALL NOTICE:

You are invited to send a photographer to the Meadway public toilets at 10am on Monday October 27 where Cllr Paul Gittings will be taking a sledgehammer to the old loos. Reporters are also welcome to interview Cllr Gittings at the event.

Oscar Mortali
Tel: 0118 939 0301