Jacobs Wells Baths
Saving the baths
After several cholera epidemics ravaged Bristol in the mid-1800s, the Baths and Washhouses Act was passed to urge the building of swimming pools for public health. A rare example of the Queen Anne Revival Style, Jacobs Wells Baths was built in 1889 to provide a swimming pool and warm baths for the public, with water supplied by the nearby Jacob’s Well.
Nearly a hundred years later, the Baths were closed to allow for roof, boiler and leak repairs. They were listed Grade II in 1977 before reopening as a dance studio in 1981 for the Bristol Community Dance Centre; they remained so for the next 30 years, until the keys were handed back to the leaseholder Bristol City Council in 2016.
Since its listing as “At Risk” by SAVE Britain’s Heritage in 2023, Jacobs Wells Baths has been at the heart of a major fundraising effort by Trinity Community Arts to save and restore the building into a community and arts hub.
Project Lead
Project Team
- Location Bristol
- Client Trinity Community Arts Ltd
- Completion Ongoing
Urgent works
Our team was appointed to advise on the repair and refurbishment works needed for such a project. So far the works have covered emergency intervention carried out by rope access specialists to provide holding repairs to the North Wing.
Other roof works tackled the South Wing and lower roofs, including clearing and reinstating gutters.
The initial phase also covered the removal of internal plasterwork and non-original partitions to aid surveying.
Current progress
The Phase 1 Works are currently underway, so far involving geotechnical and contamination soils investigations, along with drainage CCTV tracing and condition inspections.
Going forward, design coordination and access scaffold installation will take place to allow for high-level masonry repairs on the Main Roof to the Hall.
Future works
Phase 2 of the works is currently under funding application. This phase will focus on the refurbishment of the entrance lobby, the adaptation of the North Wing for intergenerational arts and learning, and on access improvements to reinstate public use, such as opening up the Pump and Tank Rooms.
It will also enable further investigations of high level water tanks with industrial heritage specialists to schedule repairs and determine options for future use.
