Plans to turn a vacant 1990s office block in Bath into purpose-built student accommodation have been approved, despite concerns.
Minerva House on the Lower Bristol Road in Bath | Image © Google Street View 2024
Minerva House on Lower Bristol Road was built as open-plan office accommodation with under-croft parking for 20 vehicles.
The conversion scheme lodged in January 2024 by Rengen Minerva Ltd was originally for 12 student cluster flats with 54 bedrooms but that was reduced in June 2025 to 11 flats with a total of 52 bedrooms.
The scheme includes the conversion of the undercroft car park to accommodation.
There is no parking for students, but the development includes a cycle parking store for 34 bikes.
A report submitted with the application from planning consultants said Minerva House had been vacant for some time and unsuccessfully marketed for sale as office accommodation.
It was described as being generally in good condition and “ideally suited” for refurbishment to student accommodation, which would help to reduce the “shortfall” across Bath and ease the pressure on family housing.
The report added that the car-free development is in line with local planning policy reducing car usage and promoting sustainable forms of transport, and is on a bus route that provides services every 30 minutes in both directions to Bath Spa University and Bath city centre, as well as being close to the Bristol & Bath Railway Path.
But local councillor Sarah Moore (Twerton & Whiteway, Liberal Democrat) lodged a “strong objection” saying there was no clear demand for any more purpose-built student accommodation blocks.
She asked that Bath & North East Somerset Council’s planning committee determine the plans, rather than follow the recommendation to delegate to officers to permit, subject to conditions.
Councillor Moore highlighted that Lower Bristol Road already has Twerton Mill, Charlton Court, Waterside Court, The Depot, Aquila Court and new blocks are also being built on this road at Jubilee Centre, the old BMW site and Frome House.
She said the public transport infrastructure could not cope with any further student blocks, and there is no on-street parking capacity on this main entrance into the city.
Councillor Moore said blocks already built are not full and there are blocks in other areas of the city that are being built without clear evidence of the need.
The council’s economic development team had initially objected to the application based on the loss of offices. However, it does not conflict with the council’s policy which manages change of use of offices to residential or other uses.
The applicant provided evidence from a commercial property agent stating that rents for the building had been declining since 2010. The last tenants left in spring 2022, and the building has been empty since then, despite ongoing marketing.
In their analysis, council officers said that whilst public consultation has questioned the need for further student accommodation, the applicant evidently recognises demand and considers the development to be a “viable proposition”.
In response to Councillor Moore’s request for the planning committee to consider the plans, the vice chair Councillor Paul Crossley (Southdown, Liberal Democrat) voiced his own concern about the conversion of underground car parking to flats, the lack of parking provision for a complex of 11 units, and the loss of industrial space along this road.
But he was overruled by the chair of the committee Councillor Tim Ball, who is also Councillor Moore’s fellow Lib Dem ward councillor. He said that after careful consideration, he had concluded that the planning committee would ultimately come to the same recommendation as the officers, so had decided to delegate the decision to them.
One of the conditions of permission is that the accommodation is not for any first-year students, as that is catered for on campus. It is limited to meeting the needs of second and third-year students as well as postgraduates.
The accommodation provides communal living facilities replicating HMO facilities which will help to prevent further expansion of the student lettings market in the form of HMOs.
The development has been extended to include the provision of two new bus stops near Minerva House.
