THE ground floor has now been laid at Spark:York - as the ambitious shipping container development begins to take shape.

Scaffolders have been working at the site in Piccadilly, York, where office, retail and food and drink outlets are being created.

And work is set to begin tomorrow on installing the first floor and walkway for the upper level outlets.

Joe Gardham, a co-director of Spark:York, said: “People will see the upper floor going in this week and get more of a sense of what it will look like.

“There will be a couple of holes left, but they are for the staircase and lift - we are making sure that Spark:York will be accessible to everyone.

“The small businesses should be able to start moving in by the end of the month. We don’t have an opening date yet.”

The Press last moth reported that the project was delayed by budget restraints after the directors were forced to put out a tender for a contractor to complete the second phase of the work on the flooring and walkways.

Mr Gardham said then: “We are on a very tight budget as a community development and we had to tender to get the scaffolding done at the right price so we could get the best deal possible for our tenants.

“The key message now is that it’s all systems go.”

The development stands in the former Reynard’s garage site where more than 260 businesses applied to occupy Spark: York’s 24 units.

Tom McKenzie, a co-director of Spark:York, said: “Our traders were selected after a rigorous selection process which included an application, interview and a pitch.

“We set a core criteria of all applicants being local to York, to be an independent business and to have some positive social impact as a result of their work.”

Among the first tenants to be named were food kitchens: York Nurturing Community; Once Across The Garden, offering vegan food; Street Cleaver with Asian steamed bao buns; Clucking Oinks, which serves speciality fried chicken; and galette and crepe experts Krep.

There will be 11 food outlets, comprising two restaurants, two cafés, seven street food stalls and up to four bars and nine retailers. The plans were given the go-ahead last May.