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SouthGate Bath Masterplan

Retail Development incl Debenhams Department Store design by Chapman Taylor Architects, England, UK

16 Feb 2009

SouthGate Bath mixed-use development

Design: Chapman Taylor Architects

SouthGate Bath is a retail-led, mixed-use development in Bath. It is the largest mixed-use development in the centre of Bath, occupying a previously underused 5.2 ha site within the Bath Conservation area and part of the World Heritage Site.

Chapman Taylor are the masterplanners and architects for the £360 million urban regeneration scheme, comprising 35,000 sq m retail, including a new 11,600 sq m Debenhams department store, 3,500 sq m leisure, 2,400 sq m restaurants, 93 residential units (23 affordable), 860 parking spaces, as well as an adjacent transport interchange.

The concept behind the masterplan was to deliver a mix of uses in six new city-scale buildings designed around classic Georgian-style open streets and a new square, forming a natural extension to the existing urban grain of Bath city centre. The buildings contain a mix of uses, with retail and leisure at lower levels and residential on the upper levels, thereby providing active frontages throughout the site and enhancing permeability.

The design of the scheme as individual blocks allows for the construction to be delivered in three phases – beginning with the retail units along SouthGate and the transport interchange, to be completed in Autumn 2009. Phases II and III, which will include the Debenhams department store, along with the remaining new shops, restaurants and cafes, and two level basement car park, as well as upgrading Bath Spa railway station, will be complete in 2010.

A key design principle was to ensure that the new development naturally complements and blends with the existing urban fabric, thereby remaining sensitive to Bath’s World Heritage status. Chapman Taylor employed specific design techniques to recreate traditional vernacular Georgian style, scale and detailing – the new buildings are mainly three storeys in height, some with added roof storeys; mostly of stone construction and stone-finished rendered elevations and slate roofs.

SouthGate Bath information from Chapman Taylor Architects Feb 2009

Chapman Taylor Architects, UK

Location: Bath, south western England, UK