York Central Partnership Homes England City Council Tasmin Hart-Jones Network Rail Museum University East Campus Estate Expansion

York Central is one of the largest city centre brownfield regeneration sites in England, with some parts of the area restricted to rail uses for more than 150 years. Located to the west of York train station, the 45-hectare site is one of the most significant developments within the north.

The Department for International Trade identified York Central as one of the most important upcoming schemes in the Northern Powerhouse, expected to add over £1.16 billion to the city’s GVA and create around 2,500 homes and 6,500 jobs, once complete.

Plans for the site include a Great Park, which will be a major asset to the city and contribute to York’s biodiversity, as well as providing a great outdoor space for existing residents and future communities. The development will also create an impressive new square, marking the entrance to the new western concourse for York Station and providing a new city-scale space at the threshold between the historic city centre and York Central.

The development is being brought forward by a partnership between Homes England, Network Rail, City of York Council and the National Railway Museum.

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Tamsin Hart-Jones, project lead for York Central and senior specialist at Homes England, explains more about the development and its significance, not just for York, but the region as a whole, ahead of her involvement in the York Development Plans Conference on the 8th January.

 

The York Central scheme is being brought forward through a collaborative partnership. Tell us a little more about how that partnership came to fruition?

Since 2000, a number of different organisations have tried to bring forward a development on the York Central site. In 2014, Homes England, Network Rail, City of York Council and the National Railway Museum were able to combine their resources and form the York Central Partnership. The Partnership crucially de-risked the site by bringing together critical land ownership and opening up access to funding streams which will support the up-front delivery of infrastructure.

The Partnership’s collective expertise has unlocked important funding which is vital to bring the development forward. An investment of £155 million is required for the critical infrastructure works, which will unlock the development and attract more than £700 million in private sector investment.

All of the funding for the development has been identified and includes investment from the City of York Council; Enterprise Zone; Housing Infrastructure Fund; York, North Yorkshire & East Riding Local Enterprise Partnership; and the West Yorkshire Transport Fund.

A visionary masterplan for the site has also been developed by the Partnership and an outline planning application was submitted in August 2018.

 

York Central is one of the largest city centre brownfield regeneration sites in England, what is so significant about this development?

The York Central development represents the biggest opportunity to transform York in generations. This is a unique chance to create brand new neighbourhoods right in the heart of one of the UK’s largest and most popular cities, transforming both its housing provision and creating a new commercial quarter. Given York’s historical nature the opportunities for growth in the city centre are limited and this brownfield site has huge potential.

The outline planning application for the York Central masterplan includes provision for up to 2,500 homes; 112,000 square metres of new office, retail and leisure uses; community and hotel uses; car parking; a new access road and pedestrian and cycling access routes and open spaces, including a great park. It also includes a new western concourse and access to York Railway Station.

We’re also in the unique position of having the National Railway Museum as the cultural heart of the development. The museum and its world-class collection hopes to attract 1.2 million visitors per annum as part of its own £50 million masterplan.

There isn’t another opportunity like this in the UK.

 

What will the impact of York Central be on the local economy?

York Central is anticipated to grow the local economy by 20%, adding over £1.16 billion to the city’s GVA and creating around 6,500 jobs once complete. These will be high-skilled, high-value jobs which should help retain and attract talent to the city.

The site has also been awarded ‘Enterprise Zone’ status which will offer commercial occupiers significant incentives for being based on the site. The new commercial hub will offer up to 112,000 square metres of commercial floorspace, including new much needed Grade A offices for the city, as well as more flexible workspaces for smaller businesses and start-ups.

Currently there is an imbalance in the types of jobs York offers, with most opportunities linked to serving York’s large tourism base. This means that students graduating from universities in the region often don’t settle in the city, as they feel there are limited opportunities for them.   Because Grade A office space isn’t available in the centre, York is off the radar for many businesses looking for space, despite the fantastic connectivity York has. York Central gives us the opportunity to change that.

Other businesses including hotels, shops, bars and cafes will also fit well in the site and cater for the new and existing residents and workers.

 

What sort of firms do you think would be attracted to this scheme if it gets the go ahead?

York was the UK’s first Gigabit city and has one of the strongest knowledge-driven economies in the UK, with innovation clusters in biosciences and hi-tech rail, sitting alongside thriving retail, tourism, creative digital, IT and financial and insurance sectors. These sectors create significant demand for high-quality business and residential space, which currently the city centre is unable to meet.

In many cases, York’s city centre office market supply is restricted by the fact there is no Grade A office space available in the city centre. This is why it is vital that this opportunity is taken to provide the space to attract growing sectors such as technology, rail, biomedical industries, financial services, university facilities and creative industries, in-line with the city’s wider economic objectives.

Creating a new entrance to the city’s railway station will also open up more commercial opportunities for York and make the city more attractive to potential occupiers. We’ve already had interest from a number of potential occupiers who are keen to see how the plans develop for York Central.

 

The site has been designated as a UK Government ‘Housing Zone’ – what does this mean for this site? Is it going to be primarily residential led?

The designation of York Central as a ‘Housing Zone’ allowed us to access certain streams of funding, such as capacity funding, which will enable us to bring plans for the development forward. It also provided a focus for the site and a way of bringing the Partners together.

York Central is a truly mixed-use development, which means there could be up to 2,500 homes, as well as the commercial space. It is vital that York Central will create these new homes to address housing need, supply and affordability challenges in the city.

We want York Central to be full of life and the Partnership’s vision for the development is that it will deliver well-connected and sustainable neighbourhoods, which are accessible to all. We’re looking at creating play streets, where children can play outdoors freely and safely in the street close to their own home, and community spaces, which could contain community gardens, food growing spaces and nature or fitness trails.

We want to create a series of distinct neighbourhoods on the site; each with its own unique characteristics that allow the housing and buildings to blend in with the existing surrounding communities. There will also be a big focus on encouraging low-carbon living and we’re committed to providing the flexibility needed for sustainable energy solutions.

The site will have a broad mix of housing including terraced, mews, maisonettes, mansion blocks and courtyard blocks or duplex living, to create family apartments.

 

How will social and affordable housing feed into the housing planned for York Central?

The Partnership has made a clear commitment to creating 20% of the homes as affordable at York Central, this is in line with the planning policy and an important part of creating a mixed community. York has some significant affordability challenges and this site needs to contribute to addressing that.

We want to ensure that everyone can benefit from this development and by providing housing that is available to buy or rent at lower rates than usual, and only available to people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford it, we hope to remove some of those barriers.”

The development is a strategic site in York’s draft Local Plan and it will deliver affordable housing to help the city meet its housing needs and contribute to York’s policies, to help make it possible for people to afford to live in their own home.

 

Have you already got development partners and investors lined up for the site, or are you currently still looking to forge those relationships?

Homes England and Network Rail will be the master developers for the site and will be going out to the market in early 2019, subject to approval of the outline planning application, to identify a developer partner for the first phase of residential development and later in 2019 for a partner for the commercial element. We’ve had a number of developers express a keen interest in bringing forward development on site, subject to infrastructure being in place, so getting planning permission and the funding package all approved is our key priority at the moment.

 

What are the timescales for bringing the project forward?

The City of York Council is taking the lead on the design and construction of the access road for the site. Subject to approval of the outline planning application, the enabling works, which include the relocation of on-site telecommunications systems, are expected to begin on site in early spring 2019 and infrastructure works, such as the construction of the main access road, are scheduled for the summer.

The construction of the first homes and offices are expected to begin on site in 2020 and we anticipate building work will take place in a series of phases, over the next 15 years. Further infrastructure, for example, the park; new road from Water End to Leeman Road tunnel; cycle and pedestrian routes; new western station entrance; and Museum Square, is expected to be delivered by March 2023, in line with our funding availability.

 

The National Railway Museum is being expanded, how will that benefit the city?

The National Railway Museum is a leading UK museum and a key visitor attraction for the city, which currently welcomes 750,000 visitors annually. As a major landowner and anchor occupier, the Museum has its own £50 million masterplan to enhance and expand facilities by 2025. It also aims to increase visitor numbers to over 1.2 million per year and it is hoped that the changes to the Museum will increase the time visitors spend there and encourage more people to stay overnight in the city, which will in turn help to strengthen the visitor economy in York. There are the associated benefits to local jobs which an increased numbers of visitors to the city would bring.

I think the Museum also has a really important role in inspiring future generations for a career in science, technology, engineering and maths and its amazing new facilities will do just that.

 

The York Development Plans Event is set to bring together some 150 industry professionals from across the UK who are interested in developing, investing and working within York. Why is it such an important date in the industry calendar?

There are big plans for the city of York as a whole, and this event provides a great opportunity to showcase York Central as part of these changes in front of our peers and potential development partners. The benefits of York Central not are not only what it brings to the city and its people, but the wider positive impact it will have for the construction sector during the delivery phase. We are keen to work with local companies to deliver York Central and hope local businesses of all types will see the advantages that this scheme and the investment it receives will bring.
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