Bath has taken a major step towards introducing a Continental-style cafe culture following a move by the city’s Business Improvement District (BID) to transform Kingsmead Square into an al fresco dining and performing arts space. The BID has officially lodged plans with Bath & North East Somerset Council following months of discussion with Kingsmead...
Bath’s Kingswood School has staged a topping-out ceremony for its new teaching block, the first phase of a major redevelopment funded by Barclays. Guest of honour at the event was CEO of Corporate Banking, Barclays, John Winter, along with Bath architects Mitchell Taylor and building contractors Beards. The bank has provided a funding package to...
Barclays Bank has supported the development of Frome’s ambitious new £10.3m health centre. The state-of-the-art primary care centre, some 10 years in the planning, is the result of the relocation of two existing surgeries in the town and the Beckington Family Practice. The 4,500 sq m building offers a wide range of health-related services...
The Government’s controversial Help-to-Buy scheme, which aims to stimulate the housing market, is already boosting sales in Bath and across the West, according to housebuilder Redrow. It said take-up of the scheme, which helps buyers with low deposits obtain mortgages by underwriting the loan, has been stronger in the region than any other part...
Property specialist Carter Jonas has appointed three new members of staff to its West valuation team. Rupert Williams joins as a senior associate and becomes one of four surveyors in the team based at the firm’s Bath office. A Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Rupert was previously a partner in a...
Home Grown Hotels, the group behind The Pig chain of upmarket hotels, has bought Hunstrete House near Bath for £5m from von Essen Hotels founder Andrew Davis. The 18th century Georgian hotel has been closed for two years following the administration of the Bath-based von Essen group. Hunstrete House, set in about 70 acres,...
A high-profile Bath city centre site controversially earmarked for redevelopment as a budget hotel is back on the market. The 1.23-acre site at Green Park is being marketed as having “potential for comprehensive redevelopment for a variety of uses”. Bath-based architecture practice Nash Partnership has been commissioned to undertake a feasibility study to establish...
Edmond Shipway, the national construction consultancy with an office in Bath, has started work on site at a much-anticipated redevelopment project in Manchester. The firm was first appointed as cost manager by then developer UK Land and Property almost three years ago. Having been brought on board to manage enabling works worth £1.5m known...
Nearly a third of West construction firms are at risk of failure in the next 12 months, according to new research. This compares to 25.7% of businesses at risk across all sectors in the region and comes on the back of a fall in UK construction output in the first quarter of this year....
Annual pre-tax profits fell by 4.5% to £2.2m at Bath Building Society last year as it was hit by continued tough market conditions. A stuttering economy, weak demand for housing finance, flat house prices and continued levels of record-low interest rates combined to create one of the most challenging periods in its 110-year history,...
