Bath’s economy is to get a £32m shot in the arm to develop its much-needed Bath Quays North office scheme and create a state-of-the-art training hub to meet the city’s growing demand for hospitality and catering skills.
Some £30.9m of the funding will go towards creating around 200,000 sq ft of offices at Bath Quays North. This will be available from around 2023 and will massively boost the availability of premium office space in the city.
The Quays North site, pictured, along with Bath Quays South – development of which is about to start after years of delay – form part of Bath’s Enterprise Zone, which is due to be extensively marketed soon with a rebrand and a strong commitment showing the city open for business.
Up to 9,000 jobs are expected to be created by firms moving to the two Quays sites – with the first office building of 45,000 sq ft on the Bath Quays South due to open in 2021.
The two schemes aim to overcome the dire shortage of top-grade office space in Bath which has, over the past few years, forced a number of fast-growing businesses to relocate to Bristol.
More than £2m is also going to Bath College to refurbish its catering and hospitality education and training hub, creating a new centre with specialist training facilities to keep pace with the growing demand for hospitality and catering sector skills.
Meanwhile Bath College is to apply for up to £10m funding towards a new Digital and Creative Innovation Centre on its city centre campus.
All funding was approved by the West of England Joint Committee – the decision-making body for issues relating to the West of England Combined Authority, Bath & North East Somerset (B&NES), Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire councils, and the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).
Committee members agreed to invest £23.9m from the Economic Development Fund and £7m through the Local Growth Fund to support B&NES’ initial development work at Quays North.
The £2m-plus awarded to Bath College will come from the Local Growth Fund. Projects are funded by the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership and administered by the West of England Combined Authority (WECA).
LEP chair Prof Steve West said: “We are happy to approve the funding for these schemes, which support our ambitions for clean and inclusive economic growth in the West of England, through improving skills opportunities for people across the region, helping more start-up businesses to develop and grow, and increasing productivity.”
West of England Mayor Tim Bowles said: “These are big, exciting projects that will make a real difference to our residents’ lives, boosting business, skills and job opportunities in Bath and the wider region.”
Bath & North East Somerset Council cabinet member for economic and community regeneration Cllr Paul Myers added: “This funding both contributes to the physical development of key office space in Bath as well as delivering facilities essential for skills development for a future workforce and is to be welcomed.
“I am especially pleased that Bath continues to attract new business and with this funding we are demonstrating our commitment to economic vitality in the city and across the wider area.”
Bath College principal and CEO Laurel Penrose said: “We are delighted at the allocations of the capital funds for catering/hospitality and the next steps for the digital centre as we know how beneficial it will be to the local economy. Furthermore, it’s a real vote of confidence in Bath College’s staff and students, who will benefit greatly.”
