Places · South West · Bath
Façade & building consultants in Bath.
From Roman baths and Georgian crescents to new riverside homes, most of Bath's buildings are built of honey-coloured Bath stone. McKay Turner Consulting provides façade condition surveys, stone and defect investigations, FRAEW (PAS 9980) and EWS1 assessments across the city.
BATH 51.3811° N, 2.3590° W
A short history
A spa city, built in its own stone
Bath grew up around hot springs first used by the Romans. In the 18th century it became a fashionable spa, and the Woods and their successors rebuilt it in local stone as a planned Georgian city.
- c.AD 60
Aquae Sulis
The Romans begin a bathing complex and temple around the hot springs. It grows over the next 300 years.
- 1500
A new Abbey
Bishop Oliver King begins rebuilding Bath Abbey on a smaller scale, in late Perpendicular Gothic style.
- 1754
The Circus
John Wood the Elder lays the foundation stone on 18 May and dies five days later.
- 1767
The Royal Crescent
John Wood the Younger starts the sweeping crescent of 30 houses, completed in 1774.
- 1840
The railway arrives
Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Bath Spa station opens.
- 1942
The Bath Blitz
Three air raids in late April kill more than 400 people and damage or destroy over 19,000 buildings.
- 1987
World Heritage
The whole city becomes a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 2021 it is also inscribed as one of the Great Spa Towns of Europe.
- 2026
Back to the river
Homes rise on the former gasworks at Bath Western Riverside, and the Fashion Museum wins approval for the Old Post Office.
Architecture
What makes Bath's buildings distinctive
Bath is the only city in the UK that is a World Heritage Site in its entirety. Its Georgian squares, circuses and crescents, mostly in local stone, sit above the remains of a Roman spa.
Key styles
Roman
Baths and a temple to Minerva were built around the hot springs and extended over about 300 years.
Perpendicular Gothic
Bath Abbey was rebuilt in late Perpendicular style and finished shortly before the priory was dissolved in 1539.
Palladian
John Wood the Elder's Queen Square, which Pevsner called "one of the finest Palladian compositions in England before 1730", and The Circus.
Late Georgian
The Royal Crescent (1767–1774), Robert Adam's Pulteney Bridge (c.1770) and Lansdown Crescent (1789–1793), set along the hillsides.
Victorian
Brunel's Bath Spa station (1840), George Gilbert Scott's restoration of the Abbey in the 1860s, and J M Brydon's Victoria Art Gallery.
Contemporary
Thermae Bath Spa (2006), a Bath stone building inside a glass envelope by Grimshaw, and the Georgian-style streets of SouthGate.
The city's material palette
Did you know?
Ralph Allen's mines at Combe Down supplied much of Bath's stone. Found to be unstable in 1989, they were later filled with over 400,000 cubic metres of foamed concrete.
Robert Adam based Pulteney Bridge on an unused Palladio design for the Rialto. It is one of the few surviving bridges in Europe lined with shops.
John Wood needed precisely cut blocks for his classical façades, which pushed local masons to cut Bath stone more cleanly and regularly.
Typical building types
What Bath is built of today
With around 5,000 listed buildings, much façade work in Bath needs listed building consent. Newer homes, student blocks and offices sit mainly by the river and on the university campuses.
Georgian terraces & flats
Bath stone townhouses, many now split into flats with shared roofs and façades.
Where: Royal Crescent, The Circus, Great Pulteney Street
Heritage & civic
Listed civic, religious and visitor buildings that need specialist care.
Where: Abbey Churchyard, High Street, Bennett Street
Hotels & spa
Hotels in converted townhouses and new buildings serving a busy visitor economy.
Where: Royal Crescent, Bath Street, Kingsmead
Retail & mixed use
Shops at street level with offices or flats above, often in listed buildings.
Where: SouthGate, Milsom Street, Stall Street
Offices
Georgian townhouses used as offices, and new Grade A space by the river.
Where: Queen Square, Gay Street, Bath Quays
Modern apartments
New homes built since 2000 on former industrial land beside the Avon.
Where: Bath Riverside, Windsor Bridge, Green Park
Purpose-built student
Campus halls and city blocks for two universities, with more planned.
Where: Claverton Down, Green Park, Lower Bristol Road
Healthcare & education
Hospital and university buildings from the 1960s onwards, often extended in stages.
Where: Combe Park, Claverton Down, Newton Park
Current construction trends
Where Bath is building now
New homes on old riverside industrial land, student housing and the careful reuse and retrofit of listed buildings lead the way.
One Waterside, Bath Western Riverside
Work started in 2025 on the former gasworks, fenced off since 1971. Berkeley Homes is now building more than 600 low-carbon homes, with a riverside park and river walk planned.
University of Bath student homes
Planning approval was granted in April 2026 for more than 900 student bedrooms on the Claverton Down campus, with GRAHAM appointed to build them.
Fashion Museum, Milsom Quarter
The Grade II listed Old Post Office will become the new Fashion Museum. Work is expected to start in winter 2027, with opening planned for 2030.
Draft Local Plan
The council's Draft Local Plan must plan for 27,324 new homes across Bath and North East Somerset by 2043, almost double the earlier figure.
Retrofitting listed homes
A council advice service for listed homes saw 88% of decided retrofit applications approved in its first phase. Glazing, insulation and solar upgrades were the most popular.
Stone repair and building safety
Bath stone façades need regular care to stay sound, and newer residential blocks need external wall checks under the Building Safety Act.
How we help in Bath
Every era of building has its own risks
We match our inspections and advice to the age and construction of your building.
Georgian, Victorian & Edwardian stone, brick and terracottac.1750–1930
Weathered stone, failed pointing and mortar, corroding iron fixings and water ingress through older details.
Post-war concrete and system buildsc.1950–1990
Spalling concrete, corroded reinforcement, ageing windows and poor thermal performance.
Curtain walls, rainscreen and high-rise residentialc.1990–2018
Leaking seals and gaskets, combustible cladding and insulation, and missing cavity barriers.
New build and conversionstoday
Design and specification gaps, workmanship defects and Building Safety Act requirements.
The Northcliffe, City of London: a stone condition assessment of a 1925 cast-stone office, with a prioritised repair, cleaning and maintenance plan.
Read the case study →FAQs
Façade services in Bath
Can you survey listed and Bath stone buildings?
Yes. We inspect Bath stone, slate, ironwork and timber sash windows on listed buildings across the World Heritage Site, and recommend repairs that suit the building's age and construction.
How quickly can you respond to an enquiry in Bath?
We work across Bath and North East Somerset. We aim to respond to new enquiries within one working day, and we arrange site visits and access to suit your programme.
Do you carry out FRAEWs and EWS1 forms in Bath?
Yes. We carry out Fire Risk Appraisals of External Walls to PAS 9980 and EWS1 assessments on apartment and student buildings across Bath. We are Homes England approved Cladding Safety Scheme assessors.
Which other services do you offer in Bath?
Technical due diligence, defect and water ingress investigations, thermographic surveys, façade condition surveys, specification and tender, development monitoring, remediation project management and expert witness services.
Work with us
Own or manage a building in Bath?
We provide façade condition surveys, defect investigations, PAS 9980 appraisals and EWS1 assessments, and manage remediation across Bath and the South West.
Photographs: Ifeoluwa B. and James Shaw on Unsplash.