A FAST-GROWING civil engineering and facilities management company has become the latest business to move into a newly-completed York office development.

The £1.5 million turnover HC Engineering, founded in 1988, has acquired a 1,400sq ft, two-storey office unit at Concept Court, Kettlestring Lane, Clifton Moor, which has been developed by Thirsk-based design build and development company, Severfield-Reeve Projects (SRP).

HC Engineering, which operates nationally, has acquired the premises for "a significant but undisclosed sum" and relocated six staff who were previously based in offices near Wetherby. The business also has an office in Haxby.

Roger Hodgson, its 55-year-old managing director, said: "We are delighted to have relocated six new jobs in York and anticipate creating more over the next two to three years as our business expands.

"We wanted to come to Concept Court, which is a well-built, forward-looking scheme, because it offered the option to buy premises and doing so gives us a more solid platform as we continue to grow. All the staff we have re-located live in York, which reduces their travelling time and allows us to focus all our staff within one central conurbation."

HC Engineering provides building and civil engineering contracting, electrical and plumbing contracting, and steelwork fabrication services, to a wide range of construction companies and projects throughout the UK. The group also incorporates hand-made furniture company, Mill Furniture, of Stillington.

Concept Court, which was completed this spring and is valued at more than £2 million, is designed in an L-shape around an open courtyard with allocated car parking spaces. There are six independent two-storey office units, four of which are 1,440sq ft and two are 1,995sq ft.

Two office units have already been occupied by geotechnical design company Byland Engineering Ltd and Victim Support North Yorkshire. One other unit is being sold to a private investor.

Only two office units remain at Concept Court, which was built speculatively by SRP to help ease York's shortage of modern office space.

Joint agents Savills and Hunters Commercial LLP, York, say that freehold commercial properties are in demand in York, particularly as an investment, and Concept Court's location and design is driving substantial interest in the development.

Lindsay Ross, managing director of SRP, said: "There is a high level of interest in the remaining units and we expect to announce deals soon."