Bath’s Quays North development, which aims to create a much-needed new showpiece office park for the city, has received outline planning consent from Bath & North East Somerset Council (B&NES).
The 2.2-hectare site, which will also include at least 70 new homes and a new car park, forms a part of the Bath Quays flagship redevelopment scheme spanning both sides of the River Avon near Churchill Bridge and close to the city.
The council says Quays North will be a vibrant new quarter for Bath businesses, capable of creating 1,900 jobs and offering the most significant development opportunity in a generation.
The council is in the process of selecting a development partner for the scheme from a shortlist, with an announcement expected early next year. Construction work is likely to start in early 2020.
The office scheme will bring 20,000 sq m (270,000 sq ft) of prime space to the city, with the council hoping it will ease the severe shortage of business accommodation in the city centre that has led several Bath-based businesses to relocate to Bristol. It could also act as a magnet by bringing leading-edge employers in the burgeoning tech and creative sectors to the city.
B&NES cabinet member for economic & community regeneration Cllr Paul Myers said: “Outline planning at Bath Quays North is a hugely significant step forward for Bath. Bath Quays will meet the needs of Bath’s successful local business community who wish to expand, as well as encourage others to move to the area, bringing with them higher-wage jobs, investment and economic growth.
The development will enhance the city’s and region’s reputation as a home for business and will enable the provision of more opportunities for our residents and young people, especially in Bath’s successful hi-tech, creative, financial and professional sectors.
Bath Quays aims to enrich life, work, leisure, our local economy and our world-renowned city.”
As well as offices and homes, Quays North will also create an attractive waterfront spaces for the community with cafes and restaurants. The proposed layout of the site reinstates the historic street pattern – destroyed when the current multi-storey car park was built – and reconnects the river to the city centre with high-quality pedestrianised squares and shared cycle routes.
The Quays South scheme, which is being developed by the council with regeneration specialists TCN, received planning consent in April last year despite the 11th-hour withdrawal of key partner defence consultancy BMT, which has an office on the site and had planned to build a new HQ on it.
Work is expected to start soon on its high-quality 5,017 sq m office block and the regeneration of the historic Newark Works building to create a 4,530 sq m, providing workspace for creative businesses in affordable short-let commercial units.
The scheme will also include new public spaces and landscaping, a new pedestrian and cycling bridge and will complete the area’s flood defences and river walls.
Homes England has committed grant support through the recently announced Accelerated Construction Programme to fast-track the construction of new homes at Bath Quays and ensure affordable housing is part of a mix of accommodation aimed towards young local workers.
Cllr Myers added: “I welcome Homes England’s support that will allow the council to deliver affordable homes and employment space to benefit residents.”
Homes England executive director for land Stephen Kinsella added: “We’re supporting ambitious local authorities to develop their land more quickly to get more homes built for local people. Meeting the demand for housing requires different approaches and our funding will see local partners using new technologies.”
Bath Quays is being developed by B&NES in partnership with – and part-funded by – the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership and administered by the West of England Combined Authority.
The project will contribute to the council’s commitment to deliver up to 3,500 new homes, 9,000 new jobs and will also help diversify the authority’s estate for the benefit of future generations.
It will also increase the amount of revenue the council receives in rent and business rates.
Homes England is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Its Accelerated Construction Programme aims to help local authorities build houses more quickly, encourage innovative construction methods and a use wider range of builders, in particular locally-based small and medium-sized companies.
Pictured: Artist’s impression of how Bath Quays North could look from Churchill Bridge
