Bayshill House

Cheltenham Ladies' College

The client, having decided that this Grade II listed building met their strategic requirements for a new performing arts centre, brought us on board to prepare and promote a heritage planning strategy to guide the development proposals.

Location: Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
Status: Completed
Size: 2,100m² (22,600 sq ft)
Scale: Building

Between 2000 and 2006 Tim Foster Architects looked at various options for the location of the performing arts centre. The ideal location was found to be at the listed Bayshill House, where the unattractive existing 1970s office extension could be demolished and replaced with a new auditorium.

Great care and deliberate consensus building was needed to obtain both Planning Permission and Listed Building Consent for the proposed extensions and alterations.

We undertook a townscape analysis of the conservation area to inform development opportunities at the site and a historic building assessment to identify scope for future use including renovation and alteration works.

From these studies an urban design framework was produced to establish the parameters for development. This document informed the architectural brief and set the baseline for discussions with the LPA, English Heritage and the Cheltenham Civic Society.

Planning Permission and Listed Building Consent was granted in December 2006 and the planning application package, approach and design was commended by English Heritage as being exemplary.