The Gainsborough Bath Spa revives ancient Roman spaces

Bath, fittingly, will welcome the UK’s first hotel to offer a Roman-style thermal spa. The 99-room Gainsborough Bath Spa, opening in July, takes over a property comprising three Georgian Grade II-listed buildings.

The site, originally designed by architect John Pinch, was built in 1824 on the remains of a Roman settlement and the hotel will use the same natural thermal waters as the ancient settlers.

EPR Architects and Champalimaud Design have created a space typical to old Roman baths in their transformation of the property. The Spa Village, as the bath house is dubbed, covers two floors and centres around a glass atrium. Colonnades and mosaics also hark back to Bath’s early history.

‘While the hotel is designed to pay deference to history, it does so in a manner that appeals to, and engages with, the present,’ says Anthony Champalimaud, vice president of development for the Gainsborough’s parent company, YTL Hotels.