local authority:  Reading Borough Council

Orts Road Housing Co-operative is located less than ten minutes walk from Reading town centre on the banks of the Kennet and Avon canal. The co-op is home to a diverse community and offers a mixture of bedsits, self contained flats and rooms in shared homes. 

The estate has 92 tenancies comprising 47 shared tenancies, 28 one bed bedsits and 17 two bed family flats.  These are located in three blocks – Biko Court, Mandela Court, and Morris Court – together with two car park areas and communal gardens on a single site in Orts Road, East Reading.    

The co-operative was developed by SCS in 1984 and is registered as a fully mutual housing co-operative. Services were provided by Co-op Homes South for many years but, as of 1 August 2010, these have been transferred to CDS Co-operatives.  The co-operative has a local office which is open two days each week. 

It has good access to many amenities including Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading University and the town centre. Access to public transport is also good. The mainline train station is just over 1km from Orts Road. 

Orts Road Housing Co-operative has contractual tenancies. 100% of new allocations to shared properties are made from their own waiting list.  Allocations to family flats are only made to families nominated by Reading Borough Council.  Single person bedsits are usually allocated to existing co-op members who wish to move from shared accommodation. 

The co-operative has a large common room which is available for hire to co-op members for certain types of social event.  In recent years the co-op has organised a summer barbeque for present and former members of the co-op.  All members of the co-op are welcome to join the co-op's management committee which is responsible for running the co-op and organising social events.    

'Quite a few of our members have lived in the co-op for many years, which says something about the sense of community in the area.  Reading is a diverse town with a good record of positive relations between different communities, and we like to think that we are a good example to show how people from different backgrounds can live happily alongside each other and get on with each other as friends.'

Peter Burt, Treasurer