SouthGate is a retail-led, mixed-use development within the Bath Conservation Area and World Heritage Site for which Chapman Taylor were the masterplanners and architects.
The scheme comprises 35,000m2 retail, including a new 11,600m2 Debenhams department store, 3,500m2 leisure, 2,400m2 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 project was delivered in three phases - beginning with the retail units along SouthGate and the transport interchange, completed in Autumn 2009. Phases II and III included the department store, along with the remaining new shops, restaurants and cafes, and car park, as well as upgrading Bath Spa railway station, all completed in 2010.
A key design principle was to ensure that the new development naturally complemented the existing urban fabric, thereby remaining sensitive to Bath’s World Heritage status. Specific design techniques were used to recreate traditional vernacular Georgian style, scale and detailing.
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