THREE buildings which are part of York’s past are now set to be demolished to clear the way for the future.

As the York Central redevelopment finally gets underway, the diggers will move in shortly to flatten a former wagon works, parts of which date back to the 1850s, a concrete factory built in the late 1950s and a Unipart railway parts centre built more than 30 years ago.

The Press reported last week that after decades of endless negotiations, work would finally start this week on demolishing the buildings and clearing land to pave the way for one of the UK’s biggest brownfield redevelopment schemes.

The site clearance was needed to prepare the area for infrastructure works to unlock the 42 hectare York Central site behind the railway station, which is set to provide up to 2,500 new homes and create about 6,500 new jobs.

But what is the history of the buildings facing destruction?

According to a York Archaeological Trust historic buildings record, the Wagon Works was built in 1867 as a wagon repair depot but has undergone significant alterations over the years and is a patchwork of styles. A fire in 1931 saw a substantial rebuild, but the main range continued to be used as the main repair shop.

The trust said the concrete works was built before 1962, with a single storey block constructed in a different style to the rest of the building.

The remnants of a narrow-gauge railway in the car park corresponded with a tramway, designed to move goods between the concrete works, its yard and the railway, which would have become obsolete with the introduction of forklift trucks.

The Unipart building is the most modern, dating back to the 1980s. The Press reported in 2019 that it was to close with the loss of 72 jobs to York, after demand had fallen and plans to re-locate to another site in the city had been abandoned.