A £12 MILLION development that would have housed 600 to 700 York office workers has been scrapped, as the recession continues to hit the city.

Queens House Joint Venture (QHJV) planned to build a six-storey office block in Carmelite Street, on the edge of the huge Hungate site, but the firm of solicitors due to use the building has now pulled out.

Project manager John Skelton today said QHJV may abandon the office plan altogether and instead build flats or student accommodation.

He also warned he thought the entire Hungate vision, based around a mixture of office, retail and residential use, was in ruins. He said City of York Council’s recent decision not to house its new headquarters there, coupled with QHJV’s decision, had jeopardised the whole project.

“All the ground floors for that scheme are retail and cafés or restaurants. If you do not have 1,400 council workers next door, I cannot see many firms taking cafés or shops or restaurants there.

“The scheme will have to be redesigned. It will not be what it was meant to be; it will not be a city centre regeneration site.”

QHJV bought the land in Carmelite Street in 2007 from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The office block was scheduled for completion by the middle of 2010, and was to have been an exemplar of eco-efficiency.

It was to have housed up to 700 workers, of which most were expected to relocate from elsewhere in York, with the rest coming into the city from outside.

Bill Woolley, the council’s director of city strategy, today said the Hungate vision had been hit by the recession, but said he was confident it would still be fulfilled.

“The overall development at Hungate has always been long-term and clearly, like all developments nationally, the current economic climate has meant that previous timescales have slipped,” he said.

“There is no reason to believe that the previous vision and masterplan will not still be delivered, bearing in mind that York still needs more housing, and in particular the affordable housing, and also the opportunity for employment that Hungate will provide.”

He said the Hungate site offered the “only significant opportunity” in the city centre for new-build offices, and said the council was looking to market the site to possible investors in the near future.

Council leader Andrew Waller said York had a good chance of securing Government civil service jobs, which could be based at Hungate.

He said York was part of the Leeds “Forerunner City Region”. The only other such region is Manchester.

Coun Waller said: “I am more than happy to meet with the developers of Hungate and Mr Skelton to put together a case for York to get these offices.

“With the impending cuts in central Government expenditure following the borrowing to bail out the banks, there will be pressure to reduce costs and York should share in that advantage.”


Bid to create a ‘beautiful urban area’

HUNGATE was described as “one of the most significant and beautiful developments in Europe” when the £150 million masterplan was approved in 2005.

The plans had first been unveiled in 2002, and after a few amendments, they got the thumbs-up from City of York Council in July 2005.

It was envisaged that the derelict site, between the River Foss and Peasholme Green. The vision included 720 homes, offices, shops and bars, a focal community building, a new bridge over the Foss, and a continental-style riverside piazza.

At the planning meeting in 2005, John Thompson, town planner and designer of the scheme, said it would be an “exemplar of European urbanism”.

He said: “This will be one of the most significant and beautiful developments in Europe when it is finished, and York will be proud to have it.”

In late 2005, City of York Council announced it wanted to base its headquarters at Hungate, but that plan fell through last summer, and the council is now looking elsewhere.


Second phase of development on hold

THE company behind the residential development at Hungate said it still does not know when work will resume.

The first phase of houses and apartments has been completed, but work on the second phase was postponed from its original start of last autumn.

Martina Collins, sales and marketing director for the Hungate (York) Regeneration Ltd (HYRL), said yesterday: “We are continuing to carefully monitor the wider economic picture before firmly committing to a start date.”

She said the first phase had sold well, with the first residents due to move in next month.

Work will be carried out this summer on the riverside nature reserve at Hungate, followed by a new bridge over the River Foss for pedestrians and cyclists.