DERELICT offices in Bracknell town centre will be torn down and replaced with a block of nearly 200 apartments after council planners gave developers the go ahead last week.

Amber House and Northgate House will be demolished to make way for a new block of 193 apartments in Market Street - just round the corner from the town centre regeneration project The Lexicon - after plans were approved by Bracknell Forest's planning committee on Thursday evening.

Measuring ten-storeys at its highest along the border with the Peel Centre, and five storeys tall along Market Street, the apartments will be the tallest building in the street after being developed by the Thames Valley Housing Association.

However, in planning documents officers said: "It is not considered that a building of this height will be inappropriate to this site or have a harmful effect on the character and appearance of the area. This is a predominantly commercial area with some residential development in the form of apartments in higher rise buildings. The provision of tall buildings on the site will not appear intrusive or dominate the skyline."

Planning permission was also granted to build two commercial units on the ground floor.

Around 25 per cent of the apartments will have to be classed as affordable homes.