Architects in Bath

What do Bath's planning figures cover?

Every council figure here describes Bath and North East Somerset as a whole, a district of 200,898 people (ONS, mid-2025) that takes in Keynsham, Midsomer Norton, Radstock and rural villages as well as the city. None of it isolates Bath itself. MHCLG's district tables record 771 householder decisions in the four quarters to 30 June 2026, with 97.1% granted (MHCLG planning statistics). Householder means work to an existing home: extensions, lofts, outbuildings and the like.

Read the rate as a district average. It blends a Georgian terrace in a conservation area with a 1970s semi at the edge of the district, and it excludes listed building consent, which is a separate application with its own outcomes. Our own calculation from the same counts puts decisions made within eight weeks or an agreed extension at 88.1%.

Why does the World Heritage Site change what you can build?

The permitted development order treats a World Heritage Site in the same way as a conservation area. Schedule 1 of the 2015 Order lists both as "article 2(3) land" (legislation.gov.uk), and the Planning Portal spells out what follows for house extensions on that land (Planning Portal):

• every side extension needs householder planning permission;
• so does every rear extension of more than one storey;
• the larger single-storey rear extension route (6 metres, or 8 for a detached house) is not available;
• cladding the exterior is outside permitted development.

The loft route is closed too: the Planning Portal says a roof enlargement under Class B is not available on article 2(3) land. The council's mapping shows where the World Heritage Site and the conservation areas fall, so check the address before you assume any permitted development right. Our pages on extensions in Bath and loft conversions in Bath take each in turn.

What does the housing stock mean for a Bath project?

The Valuation Office Agency records 28.9% of Council Tax homes in the district as pre-1919, 9.1% as 1919 to 1939, 27.5% as 1945 to 1972, 16.0% as 1973 to 1999 and 17.6% as 2000 onwards, with 0.9% unrecorded (VOA, 31 March 2026). Almost as many homes date from the postwar decades as from before the First World War, so a single set of assumptions does not fit the district.

The council's city-wide character appraisal, adopted on 31 August 2005, describes the older core in terms an architect can design against (character appraisal). Its key points include:

• buildings of generally uniform height, typically three to four storeys in the core of the city and two outside the centre;
• a limited palette of Bath stone laid as ashlar, Welsh slate, painted iron and painted timber;
• roofscapes marked by chimneys, stone-capped party walls, parapets and M-shaped roofs;
• later buildings with deep plans, large unbroken roof expanses or flat roofs described as often out of character.

Postwar suburbs are described differently, with reconstituted stone and concrete or clay tiles in places. If your house is one of those, the questions shift from stone coursing towards neighbour impact, trees and levels.

How many listed buildings and conservation areas are there?

The council says the district has 35 conservation areas (council map page) and describes the number of listed buildings as more than twice the national average (heritage page). Historic England says about 91.7% of listed buildings nationally are Grade II, the grade a homeowner is most likely to meet (Historic England). The 2005 appraisal counted roughly 5,000 listed buildings in the city and a Bath conservation area of 1,486 hectares; both are 2005 figures and may have changed since.

The council's conservation page says conservation areas carry stricter controls over demolition and alteration of unlisted buildings and over works to trees. It adds that trees with a trunk diameter of 75mm or more, measured at 1.5 metres, are protected and that you must notify the council six weeks before work (conservation areas and planning restrictions). Listed homes get their own guide: listed buildings in Bath.

Which council documents should a Bath brief start from?

• The Placemaking Plan, adopted on 13 July 2017, which the council says forms part of the Development Plan used to decide applications.
• The city-wide character appraisal, adopted in August 2005, and the conservation area character appraisals for individual parts of Bath, some of which the council says are still in preparation.
• The World Heritage Site setting SPD, adopted in August 2013, which says the detail of any assessment of effects on the setting should be proportionate to the scale of effect and the sensitivity of what may be affected.
• The council's Article 4 directions page, which lists directions including one on demolition of walls in Bath.
• The drawing standards guide of June 2023, which tells an applicant how plans, elevations and sections must be presented.

Applications are lodged through the Planning Portal and tracked on the council's planning register. Its local requirements pages list the extra documents each application type may need. The council states that it strongly recommends using a planning agent, which in practice often means an architect.

What does it cost to ask the council first?

From 1 April 2026 the council's pre-application service charges by level (pre-application advice). Level 1, which covers loft conversions, conservatories and extensions to your own home, costs £163, with a further £76 if you want a meeting with the officer. The council gives a processing time of 20 working days for that level, and says the fee includes a site visit and a written report.

For a listed building the levels climb with the scale of the work: £445 at level 2 for a minor extension, £907 at level 3 for an extension or multiple alterations, and £1,594 at level 4 for major extensions. A separate £76 level 0 visit from a conservation officer is for energy improvements to listed homes. The council notes that pre-application advice does not guarantee permission and is not published on the planning register.

How do you shortlist an architect for a Bath home?

Anyone who calls themselves an architect must be on the Architects Registration Board register, which you can search on the ARB public information pages. In Bath, ask each practice for two things beyond that: a comparable job in the same designation, and a plain description of who will talk to the conservation officer. If your home is near the district boundary, our guide to finding your local planning authority will settle which council applies.

1. Say which designations you think apply: listed, conservation area, World Heritage Site, any Article 4 direction.
2. Ask whether the first step will be the council's pre-application service or a straight application, and why.
3. Ask how much of the quote covers drawings for building regulations as well as planning.
4. Get written quotes on one shared brief; our note on what architects charge explains the usual fee bases.