4 CONTEXT 189 : SEPTEMBER 2026 Georgian Group appeared as a Rule 6 Party at the 2022 public inquiry. Following a change in ownership, a fundamentally different approach was adopted, centred on an Enquiry by Design process developed and facilitated by the King’s Foundation, with the Georgian Group playing an active role throughout. The process helped establish a shared understanding of the building’s significance, and the opportunities and constraints associated with its adaptation before formal design proposals were developed. Applications for listed building consent and planning permission for the revised scheme were subsequently approved in 2025. Balancing Harm and Benefit: a decision-making framework for heritage applications can be viewed at https://kings-foundation.org/ resources Landscape of Bath A new, permanent feature garden will be installed at the museum No 1 Royal Crescent later on this year. The Contemporary Georgian Garden will include a new stone bench for people to enjoy the view of both the garden and the gentle curve of the Royal Crescent. The installation will transform the currently underused courtyard into a pocket ‘landscape of Bath’, using container planting inspired by Charles Babington’s Flora Bathoniensis, published in 1834. Designed in collaboration with landscape architects Grant Associates, the garden will form part of the museum’s main visitor route, introducing a new narrative around plant species native to the Bath landscape, as recorded by Babington. As well as being a new part of the museum, the garden will demonstrate the potential for city greening as action on the climate and nature emergency. Royal Institution cuts carbon The Royal Institution is on track to achieve a 42 per cent reduction in carbon emissions at its Grade I listed Georgian building. Among other things, it has installed air source heat pumps to ensure only electricity is used to run the very building where Michael Faraday discovered electromagnetic induction; installed a new intelligent building management system that will learn how the building works over the course of a year to maximise efficiencies (for example, carbon dioxide sensors in the 225-yearold lecture theatre will monitor how much fresh air is required for different numbers of people The new garden at No 1 Royal Crescent will show the potential for city greening. (Photo: No 1 Royal Crescent, Bath Preservation Trust) Work underway at the Royal Institution at different times of the day); and applied an innovative new solarreflective coating to the building’s Georgian windows. It was in the basement laboratories of the Royal Institution between 1859 and 1861 that John Tyndall proved that gases like water vapour and carbon dioxide absorb and radiate infrared heat. His experiments showed that these gases trap heat in the atmosphere, suggesting that changes in their concentration could alter Earth’s climate. The work was supported by £4.35 million funding from the Mayor of London. The heritage conservation specialist Coniston was the principal contractor.
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