7 Upper Camden Place, Walcot, Bath

7 Upper Camden Place forms one half of a pair of Grade II early 19th century terraced townhouses situated within the Bath conservation area and World Heritage Site. It forms part of the wider group value and streetscape setting of a high concentration of Grade II early 19th century terraced houses along Upper Camden Place, as well as the adjacent Grade II early and mid-19th century terraces at 1-13 Lower Camden Place and 1-12 Berkeley Place. Contrary to the pattern of the wider streetscape, the terrace of Upper Camden Place is architecturally varied with ‘runs’ of dwellings in a particular articulation and form. 6-7 Upper Camden Place form an architecturally-homogenous pair with fine four storey curved bays with tripartite windows across their principal facades (excluding the lower ground floor). Both buildings have been significantly altered at roof level at a later date, with the addition of modern dormer windows on the street-facing roof slope. The terrace as a whole is elevated at a sharp north-east – south-west slope over the road, set back within generous strip garden plots and obscured by a shared coursed rubble stone boundary wall and well-developed boundary planting.

In the light of the declared Climate Emergency, BPT is generally supportive of retrofit measures that protect elements that contribute to the special architectural and historic interest of a listed building; alterations are expected to be visually coherent with the character of the building, and the wider shared character of the two listed buildings and surrounding conservation area.

In principle, BPT is supportive of the installation of secondary glazing to improve the thermal performance of the building whilst minimising possible detriment to its distinctive historic characteristics. Secondary glazing allows the retention of historic or historic-style sash windows, and would constitute a less invasive, reversible measure with limited harm to historic fabric. We therefore feel that 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 with a low visual impact.

Installation through all street-facing windows on the first, second, and third floors would ensure a largely uniform, homogenous appearance which would not detract from the appearance of the retained historic windows.

We maintain the use of magnetically-fixed secondary glazing as a minimally invasive and easily reversible addition to improve the energy efficiency and residential comfort of a historic building and ensure its long-term, sustainable use. The proposed glazing model would allow the sashes to open and therefore retain their existing function and capacity for natural ventilation.

However, we note that the windows across the principal elevation require a specialist, bespoke approach due to the use of bowed sash windows that follow the elegant curve of the principal bay. We therefore maintain that further proposed context sections are required to better demonstrate how the glazing would interact with the windows as a whole to ensure that the specialist characteristics of this listed building are appropriately sustained and enhanced by the proposed works. The secondary glazing should be similarly bowed to follow the established line of the sash windows.