A developer has revealed plans to demolish an eyesore Bath office block to make way for a four-star hotel.

The firm behind the plan, Telereal Trillium, wants to knock down the 1960s-built Kingsmead House on the corner of Charles Street and James Street West and replace it with a "high-quality" hotel with conference facilities.

Its announcement comes just two weeks before a planning application for a 190-room hotel a few hundred yards away in Green Park Road is discussed by B&NES councillors at a development control committee meeting. The hotel planned for Green Park House would offer budget-style accommodation and be the biggest in the city.

Critics fear Bath's hotel sector could be saturated should both schemes get the go-ahead and say the latest proposal is one more argument for the publication of a long-awaited council-commissioned report into accommodation demand.

But the wait for the publication of the Bath Visitor Accommodation Study has not prevented developers from drawing up plans.

Work has started on the 100-room Gainsborough Hotel and Thermal Spa in the city centre, while Bath Rugby has also mooted the idea of incorporating a hotel into its planned new stadium, wherever that is.

Telereal Trillium is confident there is sufficient demand for its proposed hotel on the site of the former benefits offices.

"We believe that this is an exciting plan that will bring a new lease of life to a prominent site that has been vacant for some time," said a spokeswoman.

"We have brought together a highly skilled team, including a Bath-based lead planner, to ensure that the development is appropriate for the local area, and we are keen to share our plans and listen to the views of members of the local community.

"The proposed hotel development, which will include conference facilities and a restaurant, is an opportunity to create new employment and support Bath's reputation as a premier tourist destination."

No details of parking arrangements or the number of rooms have been disclosed so far.

The hotel at Kingsmead House would seem to tick all the boxes in terms of what city marketing body Bath Tourism Plus would like a new hotel in the city to provide.

Robin Bischert, its chief executive, said: "In order to meet current and future demand, Bath Tourism Plus supports the draft accommodation study which has outlined that a minimum of 300 rooms will be required by 2016."

He said the unpublished study had highlighted a four- or five-star branded hotel – especially one with conference facilities – as a priority for development in the city.

The study also rates an independent or boutique hotel, such as a Malmaison, as a second priority and budget accommodation on peripheral sites or out of town as the last priority.

Mr Bischert said: "Our concern is the constraint to the economic benefit from tourism if the accommodation stock remains at its current level.

"But, although an increase in accommodation is needed, we believe that it is important to support the most suitable development and therefore one that will provide the most benefit to Bath's tourism industry.

"In a time of recession, we welcome the fact that someone wants to build a hotel in Bath, which shows confidence in the destination, and we look forward to seeing plans."

While preferring the concept of the Kingsmead House hotel to Green Park House, Leslie Redwood, of the Bath Independent Guest House Association, sounded a cautious note.

"This is creating an over-capacity situation," he said. "If Green Park House went ahead as well as the Gainsborough, this latest extra hotel would create an overcapacity in the market."

Telereal Trillium will begin a public consultation over its plans for Kingsmead House next week.

An exhibition will be held in the building on Tuesday from noon-8pm and on Wednesday from 8am-4pm. Representatives from the company and its consultation team will be on hand to answer questions from Bath residents and businesses.