TEAMWORK and perseverance have delivered a property story with a happy ending for The Press and its staff.

The Press has been based in Walmgate for 25 years but, following the closure of its printing press and with recent changes in technology, a smaller more modern working environment was required.

Teaming up with a developer that understood and embraced the challenge of releasing capital but maintaining the company’s presence in Walmgate, within York’s historic city walls, was a critical element in achieving the perfect solution.

So, The Press teamed up with the York-based S Harrison Group, one of the UK’s most successful development companies, to explore possibilities for the two acre wharf-side site.

It was partly Harrison’s successful delivery of neighbouring student accommodation schemes that opened the possibility of using The Press site in the same way.

Teaming up with Student Castle, The Press and Harrison devised a scheme which would realise optimum value for the site, with 658 student beds, while retaining a shop window frontage for The Press and creating modern three storey offices alongside a former merchant’s late-Victorian premises on the existing site.

With Harrison steering the scheme through the planning process and providing advice on delivery, The Press moved their 80-strong team into the new offices in September, following a conversion and building project by the York building company William Anelay Ltd.

David Coates, regional managing director for The Press’s parent company Newsquest, said: “Having such a knowledgeable and no-nonsense developer as an integral part of the whole process has really paid dividends for us. The Harrison team has been exceptional throughout.

“The end result for us has genuinely helped secure our future in the city. We now have a modern, flexible, efficient building which carries significantly lower overheads and provides a fit and proper home for a modern, ambitious media business that is really going places.”

Harrison’s have also brought forward plans for a three-storey hotel now taking shape next to The Press offices, which is due to be completed next year.

The company is also developing more student accommodation for York St John University at Hungate in the city centre and was also one of the partner companies in the building of the new City of York Council HQ at West Offices.