Business Park in Bath Quietly Transformed into Student Campus

Developers are gradually turning a small business park in central Bath into a student campus, prompting concerns from local officials.

Currently, construction is underway to convert the office block Berkeley House on The Square — a business park located on Lower Bristol Road — into student flats. Now, Bath and North East Somerset Council’s planning committee has approved plans to convert another office building on the opposite side of The Square into student housing as well.

Grosvenor House, originally built in 1876 as a railway goods shed and converted to offices in the early 1990s, is set to be transformed into flats for non-first-year students. Bathwick Partners’ Neil Young told the planning committee on July 8 that the company aims to provide well-designed, reasonably priced flats for upper-year students. He added that this approach helps free up houses currently rented as HMOs (houses in multiple occupation), making them available for families.

The conversion of Grosvenor House will include eco-friendly features such as 150 solar panels, battery systems, and air source heat pumps. The building will also be renamed “The Goods Yard” to reflect its historical origins.

Local councillor Ian Halsall (Oldfield Park, Liberal Democrat) has voiced concerns that the conversions are creating a “student campus by stealth.” He initially warned that turning Berkeley House into student flats would lead to this outcome, a prediction he says has now come true with the Grosvenor House plans. Halsall believes the area still has potential for viable office use and suggests that, if that’s not possible, the buildings should be converted into open market housing instead of student accommodation.

The Square sits adjacent to existing student residences like Aquilla Court and is just across the railway from Thornbank Gardens. Halsall pointed out that Bath has approximately 29,000 students, but many graduates struggle to afford housing in the city after graduation. This affordability crisis also affects younger Bath-born residents, forcing them to move away, commute, or stay with family.

Despite opposition from the council’s economic development team — concerned about losing office space in a sustainable location — the planning committee approved the Grosvenor House conversion by a vote of 7-1.