Saw Close | Bath

Novell Tullett designed this high profile space outside the Theatre Royal in Bath for Deeley Freed. The proposals for a new casino, hotel, bars and restaurants and residential accommodation in the Bluecoat House will be fronted by new public realm with space for tables and chairs and outdoor performances.

Bath is a World Heritage Site and Sawclose is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, the space having not been built on since Roman times, it is also the setting of many listed buildings. Important conservation and heritage issues must be balanced against designing a space for the 21st century which is well used during the day and evening and responds to the strategy for Bath’s public realm.

Concept ideas include an interactive light installation woven into a stage or series of stepped platforms at the heart of the space with informal seating on the steps fading into ramped zones for café tables.

A shared surface route for traffic will be paved with pennant stone setts rescued from beneath the tarmac of the current car park.