Search for construction partner for York Central scheme gets underway

The hunt to find a construction partner for the redevelopment of York’s biggest brownfield site, which could create 6,5oo jobs when complete, is underway.

The York Central Partnership announced at MIPIM that it is going to market to find a construction partner for major infrastructure work on York Central, one of largest city centre brownfield sites in the UK, with a view to starting on site in 2019.

The 45 hectare development to create new residential, cultural and business neighbourhood is expected to add over £1bn to the city’s GVA.

The green light to find a construction partner to build a bridge and spine road is “a huge step forward and a massive boost for the city” in its ambition to open up the site, said York Central Partnership.

York Central is a partnership between Homes England, Network Rail, the City of York Council and The National Railway Museum.

It said the new access road is crucial to enabling the delivery of the scheme, which includes up to 100,000 sq m of commercial office space and up to 2,500 homes.

A tendering process will now be carried out to find a partner to deliver key infrastructure, including the access bridge and spine road, while the contract could potentially be extended to deliver public open space (parkland, urban drainage and public realm) and a rail link to the National Rail Museum.

This is ahead of an outline planning application to adopt a masterplan for the whole York Central site later in 2018. Subject to a successful outcome the partnership will then start looking for partners to bring forward the first phases of development.

The City of York Council will take the lead on the design and construction of the access road that will be delivered before 2021 in order to take advantage of available funding from the West Yorkshire Transport Fund. It is estimated that the cost of the initial spine road and bridge will be in the region of £40-£50m.

Mary Weastell, chief executive of York City a Council, said: “This is a major step in the progress of York Central and demonstrates the momentum that the partnership has built in the last two years. It’s also a strong signal to the investor developer audience of the size of the opportunity in York.

“York Central is a site of national significance that will increase the size of York’s economy by over 20 per cent, bringing with it housing and jobs that will help to power this growing city.”

Tamsin Hart-Jones, York Central project manager, said: “Progressing a scheme of this scale that will deliver huge benefits to a major UK city, including a new station entrance and a new high-quality commercial quarter, has required close collaboration between all of the partners involved.

“We are showcasing York Central in front of a global investor developer audience at MIPIM as we are now ready to deliver the key infrastructure that will lead to the physical transformation of this previously undeveloped part of the city centre.”

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