Independent house builder City & Country has begun work on-site at a former print works in the UNESCO World Heritage city of Bath. 

Formerly the headquarters of the world famous Pitman Press the 5.3 acre site will become Bath Press, a mixed use development featuring a range of traditionally built apartments and townhouses.

The redevelopment of the site includes the preservation of part of the print work’s Classical and Art Deco façade and chimney, a well-known local landmark that will be incorporated into the design.

The development features three-storey townhouses, which reflect the city of Bath’s glorious Georgian architecture, alongside more contemporary one to three-bedroom apartments which will be more industrial in character, in keeping with the site’s heritage. 

The first phase will comprise a total of 146 new homes. The mainly four-storey apartment blocks will be set among landscaped gardens, with a mix of internal courtyards, surrounding green spaces, roof terraces and a playground. Meanwhile, on the ground floor fronting Lower Bristol Road, will occupy 16,200 square feet of new modern office space.

The new homes have a suburban location, with Oldfield Park station a 10 minute walk away, offering transfers to Bath Spa station in two minutes. From there, commuters can catch a direct train to London Paddington taking 1h 16m. Trains from Oldfield Park also run to Bristol Temple Meads, Cardiff Central, Salisbury, Southampton, Portsmouth Harbour, Brighton and more.

The historic heart of Bath is 0.7 miles away. 

Shelley West, group sales and marketing director at City & Country, says: “Pitman Press has a famous history, both for the development of shorthand and for more modern printing – bestsellers Andrew Morton’s Diana: Her True Story and Margaret Thatcher’s The Downing Street Years both rolled off the presses here. Now it is time to turn a new page, and transform the area into new homes and businesses that will bring the buzz back. As heritage experts, we are looking forward to incorporating the historic façade in the design, as well as creating beautifully finished, comfortable and spacious new homes in this superb city location.”