A small business park in central Bath is undergoing a subtle transformation into a growing student campus, prompting worries from local representatives. Developers are converting Berkeley House, an office block on The Square off the Lower Bristol Road, into student flats. Following this, the Bath and North East Somerset Council’s planning committee has approved plans to convert a second office building on the opposite side of The Square for student housing as well.
Grosvenor House, originally constructed in 1876 as a railway goods shed and converted into offices in the early 1990s, will now be transformed into flats aimed at non-first year students. Bathwick Partners, the local development firm behind the project, emphasizes providing well-designed, reasonably priced accommodations for senior students. Neil Young, a representative of Bathwick Partners, explained to the planning committee on July 8, “This approach takes students out of HMOs, freeing up those houses for families.”
The conversion plans include environmentally friendly features such as the installation of 150 solar panels, batteries, and air source heat pumps. In a nod to its history, the building will be renamed “The Goods Yard,” its original name.
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However, concerns have been voiced about the rapid expansion of student housing in this area. Ian Halsall, the local councillor for Oldfield Park (Liberal Democrat), had previously warned that the conversion of Berkeley House was the start of creating a “student campus by stealth.” With the approval of the Grosvenor House plans, he stated, “My prediction has come true.”
The Square is situated near existing student accommodations like Aquilla Court and is just across the railway from Thornbank Gardens. Halsall argues that Grosvenor House could still serve as viable office space and, if that is no longer feasible, the building should be converted into open market housing rather than student accommodation.
Highlighting wider housing affordability issues in Bath, Halsall conveyed in a statement read at the planning meeting: “We have 29,000 students in the city; however, graduates tell me they simply cannot afford to stay in the city after finishing their studies because accommodation is so expensive. Similarly, younger Bath-born residents face the same difficulties and are often priced out of the housing market, leaving them no choice but to move away, commute, or continue living with their parents.”
Despite these concerns and an objection raised by the council’s economic development team about the loss of office space in a sustainable location, the planning committee approved the conversion plans by a vote of 7-1, aligning with the planning officers’ recommendation.