Bath Press Newsletter February 2026

City & Country is a family-owned business, founded in 1962, delivering high quality residential and mixed-use schemes across the UK. Over the last 60 years the business has evolved to become an award winning, market leading niche developer specialising in the restoration and conversion of historic and listed buildings into unique dwellings of exceptional quality and character.

City & Country also successfully integrated new build properties sensitively within the context of important historic buildings. In recent years, the business has broadened its portfolio of projects to also deliver fully new-build schemes of exceptional design and build standards, carefully considering the character and context of the local area.

We are excited to be bringing forward this significant development for the local community, on the former Pitman (Bath) Press site. Bath is known for its status as a World Heritage Site and a centre of international cultural significance, which is an excellent fit for the vision of City & Country and our brand.

Some developments undertaken in recent years by City & Country are shown in the photographs below, including the restoration and conversion of important listed buildings within Bristol, Edinburgh and in South Downs National Park, with high-quality new build development within their settings.

This newsletter is intended to update immediate neighbours of the former Bath Press site about City & Country’s progress on current and future developments on site over the coming months.

We hope residents will find it a useful source of information both in terms of providing an outline of our plans as well as an approximate timetable for the delivery of those plans.

Following the demolition of the former Pitman (Bath) Press buildings by the end of 2018, with the exception of the retained historic façade and chimney along the Lower Bristol Road frontage, City & Country commenced construction work in early 2025 under the planning permission that had been granted for the site in 2016.

An exciting piece of news is that after the site has been left dormant for a number of years, City & country have brought the site to life with  construction work progressing well on 146 new homes that are being created at the eastern end of the site under that 2016 permission, and we are currently expecting to welcome the first residents of the development in early 2026, which will be in the Block P terrace houses that front onto Dorset Close.

Over the coming months we will be continuing to build out to the rear of Block P and commence on works to repair and restore the historic façade and chimney along Lower Bristol Road, which will enable us to remove the existing protection scaffold and greatly enhance the appearance along this section of the street frontage.

City & Country takes seriously the importance of reducing the risk of adverse impact from construction activities and to ensuring that the disturbance to local residents during works is minimised. Before works started on site, a Construction Management Plan (CMP) was agreed between City & Country and Bath & North East Somerset (B&NES) Council, which includes the measures to be taken to mitigate the effects of the construction activities within the eastern part of the site where works are currently ongoing.

The key points within the approved CMP for the east end development (Blocks G through to P) are as follows:

Working hours

·        Monday to Friday – 07:00hrs to 18:00hrs.

·        Saturday – 08:00hrs to 13:00hrs

·        Sundays – No working.

It has also been agreed with B&NES Council that there would be no working on Bank Holidays unless otherwise agreed and, on a limited number of occasions during concrete pours, an extension to the normal working hours above could be permitted to facilitate the curing process.

Delivery timings

Construction deliveries are permitted within the hours of 09:00 to 16:00 on weekdays, with all deliveries to avoid school drop-off / collection times.

Site access and exits

All deliveries to and from site are permitted via the vehicular gates located adjacent to the western boundary (Brook Road). Emergency exits for pedestrians and vehicles are also located on the northern boundary (Lower Bristol Road) and the eastern boundary (Dorset Close).

Noise control

All noise producing work, audible outside the boundary of the site, is permitted to be carried out within the hours of 07:00 to 18:00 on weekdays and within the hours of 08:00 to 13:00 on Saturdays. Frequent noise monitoring takes place on site with decibel meter readers to ensure noise levels do not exceed the relevant levels depending on the operation, time and location.

Dust and vibration control

Given the nature of all construction sites, it is inevitable that some dust and vibration will occur during works. As agreed with B&NES Council, best practice measures have and will continue to be implemented throughout the remainder of the construction process to ensure that dust and vibration does not cause nuisance to neighbouring properties and remains within acceptable levels. The CMP details the wide range of control measures that are agreed to mitigate dust and vibration levels from the site.   

The nature of construction activities associated with complex and large-scale development projects makes it difficult to accurately predict the exact timetable of works, however over next six months the following construction works on site are expected to take place:

·        Concrete pours and curing process associated with finalising for the construction of the basement car park. Given the nature of this work and the importance of timing and dry conditions for power floating to facilitate a smooth concrete finish for the car park surface, it will be necessary on limited occasions for this activity to extend beyond the normal working hours. City & Country has written to B&NES Council to explain this situation and to assist the Council has agreed in principle to extending the hours of work beyond the usual finish time of 18:00hrs for limited occasions.

·        External servicing and landscaping works for the Block P houses fronting Dorset Close. This will involve limited working within Dorset Close to finish these works and City & Country shall seek to agree the precise timings with the school on Dorset Close to help ensure that the impact of these works is minimised.

·        Internal finishes for the Block P houses fronting Dorset Close. This work shall be contained within the fabric of the buildings and is unlikely to cause any disturbance to surrounding neighbours.

·        Works to form vehicle access on Dorset Close. This work shall enable access to the landscaping and car parking areas to the rear of the Block P houses and a temporary surface will be installed initially ahead of implementing the final surface treatments once the details have been agreed with B&NES Council. The access is expected to be in operation from the end of February 2026.

·        Soft and hard landscaping works to the rear of the Block P houses. This work involves laying the external finishes in the area behind the Block P terrace houses. The work is expected to be undertaken entirely within the site and will provide the servicing and garden areas for the Block P houses.

·        Commencement of works to the southern boundary wall with Denmark Road. This will involve new capping and making good.

·        Construction of concrete frame for Block O through to Block G. Over the coming months contractors will be working to extend the concrete frame for the construction of the new buildings that will be located behind the historic façade along Lower Bristol Road. The facades to Blocks O and N are anticipated to be completed by the end of June 2026.

·        Commencement of repair and restoration works to the retained façade and chimney. This work will reveal the historic frontage on Lower Bristol Road, removing the extensive scaffolding and significantly enhancing the appearance of the street frontage.

We continue to progress exciting new plans for the development within the western end of the site, which will provide a unique set of high-quality and highly sustainable apartment buildings designed by Sterling Prize-winning local architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios.

Following our well attended public consultation event in spring 2025, in August we submitted a detailed planning application to Bath & NE Somerset Council for proposals to create 220 new homes and three commercial units in the west part of the site, which would be linked with the development at the eastern end to complete the redevelopment of the former Bath Press site.

City & Country continues to work closely with the officers at B&NES Council on these development proposals and it is expected that a decision on the planning application will be made by the Council in the spring.

We are delighted to share that our much‑anticipated and beautifully finished new show home will be opening this weekend.

Our diary is already full with appointments from prospective purchasers, but if you would like to pop in and have a look around, then please feel free to do so. Alternatively, you may prefer to visit next week, once the initial rush has settled, so that our Sales Executives can spend more time with you.

We are open daily from 10:00am to 5:00pm.

We are also pleased to confirm that three of the townhouses are already reserved, and we’re seeing exceptionally strong interest in the apartments.

Our Sales Executives look forward to welcoming you.