York Central offices set for go-ahead

Earmarked for a public sector hub, the 205,000 sq ft office block will be the first building to come forward in the masterplan area for York’s £2.5bn flagship project.

City of York Council’s planning committee will consider the application at its meeting on 22 July. The applicants are Homes England, Network Rail Infrastructure and the Government Property Agency.

Avison Young ids the planner, with Atkins advising on design, heritage and transport.

Government hubs are intended to bring together occupiers from multiple government departments into a shared location, bringing investment in infrastructure and capital investment to cities other than London. The Darlington Economic Campus, with plans lodged in March, is a further example of a Northern hub.

The York Central office building, billed as 1 Cinder Street, is intended to act as a base for up to 2,600 civil servants. It would also have a 3,000 sq ft coffee shop at ground floor level, among its six floors. A further 22,000 sq ft of ancillary space is included in the application.

Photovoltaics, air source heat pumps and a green roof are included in the design, along with 230 cycle spaces. The application also includes surrounding infrastructure.

This would include the delivery of a new planted pedestrian alley referred to as Cinder Snicket to be created between the plot, and Plot F1b to the south. Hudson Lane would be delivered between the government hub plot and Plot F2 to the west and would provide a pedestrian and cycle route linking through to Hudson Boulevard.

Atkins and Avison Young lead the professional team. Credit: planning documents

Part of the site is currently occupied by a building known as the Biscuit Warehouse, which would be demolished, a project included in the site’s outline consent.

A large-scale public realm application, the first reserved matters application in the masterplan, was approved in February this year, shortly before McLaren Property and Arlington Real Estate completed their development agreement for delivery of the masterplan, which along with commercial space is to include 2,500 homes in the city’s largest brownfield project.

Planning officers recommend that authority is delegated to the council’s head of development to approve the scheme subject to planning conditions being met.

The application can be viewed on York’s planning portal with the reference 23/02255/REMM.