Bath looks set to get its long-awaited innovation and digital campus under ambitious new plans now being drawn up for the city’s Quays South area.
International design, engineering and risk management consultancy BMT Group said it is preparing a detailed planning application for the derelict Grade II listed Newark Works building on Lower Bristol Road to turn it into a 40,000 sq ft creative centre, pictured below in a CGI image.
The plans for what will be known as Bath Quays Studios will be submitted to Bath & North East Somerset Council in late spring, BMT said. It described the move as “a new milestone” in its proposed redevelopment of Bath Quays South, which forms part of the Innovation Quay section of the Bath City Enterprise Area.
Bath lacks sufficient creative workspace and affordable, short-let commercial units to meet demand from the city’s burgeoning tech and creative businesses. This shortage has led some in the sector to warn that Bath could fail to keep its high-growth innovative businesses or attract new ones, despite the city being a fertile ground for start-ups.
BMT said Bath Quays Studios would offer advice to new and fledgling firms as well as providing much-needed desk and workshop space for businesses that are scaling up.
It also said the development of Newark Works would be sensitive to its architectural characteristics. The building, which dates back to 1857, played a key role in Bath’s industrial expansion as the home of crane makers Stothert and Pitt.
BMT has also appointed regeneration specialists TCN as creative workspace partner for the scheme. London-based TCN is known for regenerating unloved buildings and creating innovative workspaces and is behind a number of schemes across the UK including five in Bristol – among them Temple Studios near Temple Meads railway station which has been transformed into premier creative space.
The Bath Quays South scheme will also include a new 45,000 sq ft Grade A office for BMT’s four Bath-based design, technology and management consultancies as anchor tenants, along with some prime residential units.
The whole redevelopment will recognise the importance of the site’s industrial legacy and Bath’s unique architectural heritage, in line with the council's masterplan, said BMT.
Newark House was the location for inventor Sir James Dyson’s planned engineering school, which was abandoned on fears over the flood risk and a lack of government funding.
A group of leading figures from Bath’s creative industries have drawn up plans to use the building for the Craneworks project, which would transform it into a centre for firms in the sector with a mixture of desk space and studios.
BMT chief executive Peter French said: “Following extensive discussions with the council, we are very pleased to have agreed the next step forward and are now progressing our plans for the site.
“TCN has an excellent track record of delivering creative workspace in Bristol and having TCN complement BMT’s long-standing innovative presence in Bath brings us closer to delivering a beautifully novel location for hi-tech, inventive companies that are a core part of this area’s future.”
TCN CEO Richard Pearce said despite being identified by the innovation charity NESTA as one of the top 10 creative clusters in the country, Bath’s world-class creative and digital scene had been held back by the lack of suitable space.
“This is the city’s opportunity to have a focal point for the sector and we are enormously privileged to be helping deliver it,” he said. “As the business community grows at Bath Quays South, we expect this to attract new enterprises into the city from a wider catchment area, as we have seen happening at Temple Studios in Bristol.”
Cabinet member for economic development councillor Patrick Anketell-Jones added: “This is a very exciting period for Bath following last month’s announcement about the winner of the international design competition for the new Bath Quays Bridge.
“From January, flood mitigation work will begin on the north side of the river allowing us to create the new riverside park and ultimately, to develop the new office spaces. 2016 therefore marks the start of work on our ambitious plans to deliver Innovation Quays, which will create much needed new jobs for local people.”
