Flat 3, 40 New King Street, Kingsmead, Bath

40 New King Street forms part of the Grade II mid-18th century terrace at 37-52 New King Street, situated within the Bath conservation area and World Heritage Site. The terrace is noted for its “rapid and consistent” construction (Historic England), and the rhythmic homogeneity of the terrace’s presence within the streetscape. A number of properties have been subject to later alterations, particularly in relation to changing designs in window positioning and fenestration styles. 40 New King Street features an unusual 2-over-2 sash window design of which there are other examples concentrated along New King Street; these vary from the original 6-over-6 fenestration indicative of the original construction of the terrace and as such are of a lesser significance in relation to the special interest of the building.

In light of the declared Climate Emergency, BPT is supportive of sensitive sustainability retrofits, where deemed appropriate, within the historic environment, as well as the sympathetic upgrade of traditional and listed housing stock to better meet modern standards of living. As such, we therefore note a positive opportunity for the sensitive implementation of energy efficiency retrofits and thermal improvements where this does not result in harm or the loss of significant historic fabric.

We are supportive of the principle of installing secondary glazing as a less invasive and easily reversible retrofit measure to improve the thermal performance and residential comfort of a historic building and ensure its long-term, sustainable use. The installation of secondary glazing would result in very limited harm to historic fabric, restricted to the proposed fixing points.

However, we recommend that the proposed sections of the secondary glazing system should include contextual sections of the system in relation to the existing windows to ensure that the secondary glazing is of an appropriately slim profile as to sit inconspicuously behind the historic casements. Alternatively, the provision of measurements in relation to the proposed secondary glazing frames would enable for comparison with the main windows. We welcome further information regarding how the secondary glazing would be secured to the existing windows. Currently, it remains unclear as to how the proposed secondary units would interact with the original windows and we emphasise that this should be clarified before this application progresses further.

BPT welcomes the opportunity to support the applicant in reaching an acceptable solution and we encourage them to contact us to discuss their proposals.