12 Sydney Place, Bathwick, Bath

12 Sydney Place forms part of a Grade I series of eleven terraced townhouses situated within the Bath conservation area and World Heritage Site. The terrace was constructed in 1808-1809, designed by John Pinch the Elder, and form part of the unfinished vision of Sir William Johnstone Pulteney for the residential setting of Sydney Gardens, flanking the junction to Great Pulteney Street. At 3 ½ storeys in height, the terrace is of a more modest scale than the Grade I 93-103 Sydney Place adjacent, but remains notable for its uniform, palatial façade punctuated with a pediment at roof level on the central townhouse and an ornamental frieze at first floor level. The uniformity of the terrace does vary slightly at 1-12 Sydney Place with the addition of a pediment on the end of the terrace and a blind elevation onto Sutton Street. The same elevational treatment appears to be present at 12 Sydney Place, although this has been later abutted by the shop terrace on Bathwick Street. Sydney Place remains a significant indicator of an unfinished, speculative plan for the further expansion of Georgian Bath to the east and forms part of the Georgian Town Planning and Georgian Architecture OUV of the World Heritage Site.

In light of the declared Climate Emergency, BPT is supportive of the installation of secondary glazing to improve the thermal performance of the building without compromising its historic features. The installation along the uppermost storey of the building means this measure will be largely invisible from street level, and therefore mitigate potential visual impact. We feel this measure would be a positive, easily reversible addition to improve the energy efficiency and residential comfort of a historic building and ensure its long-term, sustainable use.

We are supportive of the use of magnetic strip glazing which is a more easily reversible and ‘light touch’ glazing option with minimal intrusion to the retained windows.

The proposed ‘slimline’ form of the proposed secondary glazing would reportedly allow the shutters to be operable. We note that the existing shutters are currently painted shut, and are not affected by, or included within, this application. However, we do encourage consideration of a ‘whole house’ approach where multiple measures are considered in tandem to improve thermal performance and energy efficiency, as well as the optimum use of existing historic features where practical or possible, as in some cases these were designed with resident comfort in mind. We encourage consideration of bringing these shutters back into functional use in future where they can be used as an additional thermal layer at night or when windows are not in use, as well as having an additional shading function to prevent overheating.