Contract signed for over £100m worth of infrastructure at major regeneration

Homes England has confirmed John Sisk and Son Ltd is to deliver over £100m of critical infrastructure at the York Central regeneration scheme.

With work expected to begin imminently, this marks another milestone for unlocking the city-centre brownfield site, which has been stalled for more than 40 years.

York Central covers 45 hectares and is one of the UK’s largest regeneration sites. It is to be turned into a mixed use neighbourhood – complete with residential, cultural, recreational, commercial and outdoor amenity spaces.

Over the next three years, John Sisk and Son will put in place key infrastructure to enable the land’s transformation.

This includes construction of a new bridge over the East Coast Main Line railway, which features pedestrian and cycle lanes segregated from the carriageway, and a pedestrian and cycle footbridge will also be added to the existing Water End Bridge.

The new access extends for 2km to connect Water End through the site to Leeman Road, and a rail spur to the National Railway Museum. John Sisk and Son will also provide earthworks and utility works for the entire site.

This infrastructure will make further development at York Central possible, which, when complete, will provide up to 2,500 homes, 20% of which will be affordable, and over one million sq ft of commercial space for offices, retail and leisure.

It will also see improved connectivity and access, as well as public realm and open spaces, including an urban park.

Peter Freeman, chair of Homes England, said: “We know what a transformational impact urban regeneration schemes such as this can have on a place and the benefits it will offer York’s community.

“That’s why we’ve partnered with Network Rail to help unlock this long-stalled site.

“The delivery of crucial infrastructure will help achieve that, bringing ours and our partners’ ambitions for this underutilised area another step closer to reality.”

Paul Brown, chief executive officer at John Sisk and Son, said: “We are committed to delivering this project for the benefit of the whole community and look forward to working with all the key stakeholders.”

As majority landowners on the site, Homes England and Network Rail are acting as master developers, working with City of York Council and the National Railway Museum.

Robin Dobson, group property director at Network Rail, said: “This is a major milestone for this multi-million pound York Central development.

“Getting the transformation underway will take us closer to delivering an ambitious new city regeneration and community project, that integrates both road and rail.

“We’re proud to be delivering this regeneration project with Homes England and look forward to seeing work progress over the next few years.”

Funding for the infrastructure works has been secured through the Government’s Housing Infrastructure Grant (£77.1m), the City of York Council’s Enterprise Zone Fund (£35m) and from the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (£23.5m).

Councillor Keith Aspden, leader of City of York Council, added: “This is another major step forward for York Central, one of the most important and exciting regeneration sites in the country, building on the site preparation works delivered by City of York Council and the partnership.

“It’s excellent news that construction works are moving forward to make the project, which has been a decades long held ambition, into reality. We want to ensure this positive progress continues to unlock the site’s enormous potential and deliver economic growth, community space and homes that York needs.”