York is not a city that stands still.

It is constantly changing. Sometimes small developments lead to incremental change. But often whole parts of the city are transformed in relatively short periods of time.

In 2021 York Civic Trust has seen first-hand the on-going transformation of one part of the city.

The Roman governor Quintus Petillius Cerialis established a base for his Ninth legion in green open land on banks of the River Ouse in A.D. 71.

This military base developed rapidly and new civilian residential settlements linked to thriving commercial centres, transport infrastructure, public realm and leisure facilities were all constructed. There was probably supportive discussion and strenuous objection to this urban development though there was probably not as much public consultation as we have seen in 2021.

The Principia, the military headquarters, would have been one of the first buildings to open in Roman York. 1,950 years later a new HQ opened in the city in May 2021 - named after a 19th century developer George Hudson. The architecture and layout of the Hudson Quarter seems to take some of it inspiration from residential and office blocks that may have lined some of the streets of Eboracum.

Whilst the Hudson Quarter buildings are entirely new they join the successful adaptation of a former insurance company HQ into the Malmaison hotel, which also opened in 2021. These buildings offer glorious rooftop views across the city’s skyline which is rightfully still dominated by York Minster.

A third venture - a new Roman Quarter - was also proposed in 2021 to join this portfolio of development.

These buildings, alongside the former 1906 HQ of the North Eastern Railway, now The Grand Hotel, rise above the city’s medieval walls in which arches were formed to allow trains to pass through to reach York’s first railway station. All part of George Hudson’s ambition to make all the railways come to York.

Plans to remove the Queen Street road bridge, constructed in 1877 so as not to block the trains passing through the city walls, were approved in 2021.

York Press:

The cut through the city walls to the old railway station, pictured in the 1920s. Picture: Explore York 

The original stone bridge was strengthened and widened in concrete as trams and motor vehicles became more common in the early 20th century.

With the removal of the bridge a new road will circumnavigate the city walls at ground level to approach a new station frontage allowing pedestrians to use the arches obscured for nearly 150 years.

George Hudson’s ambition is still alive in 2021 as City of York Council submits a bid for another new HQ to come to York- this time for the national home of newly formed Great British Railways. If successful this would continue York's role as a centre for railways in this country, sitting alongside the National Railway Museum and many sector-leading rail industries.

Perhaps a new HQ for GBR would be located in York Central alongside the Government Hub announced in 2021. The York Central site offers a once-in-a-century opportunity to create an innovative and future-looking development that could be the inspiration for cities across the UK.

Work began in 2021 with buildings behind the railway station and deeper into the York Central site being demolished to allow enabling works for the transport infrastructure to begin. As the Queen Street bridge will come down another will be constructed to take traffic, cyclists and pedestrians over operating train tracks - this time from Water End into York Central, bringing traffic to the city centre via York Central through the Leeman Road Tunnel.

The year’s developments clearly demonstrated the effect that large projects can have on people’s lives. Communities deeply affected by the stopping-up order for Leeman Road, an integral part of the York Central and National Railway Museum’s masterplan, unsuccessfully fought the decision at a Public Inquiry. The Roman Quarter seemed to passionately divide views as building scale, design, economic benefit and the possibility of discovering that part of the Roman city formed centuries after Cerialis were often discussed widely.

In contrast to the model of development of these ‘headquarters’ projects a community-led initiative, York Central Co-Owned -‘a community made through exchange’ - has in 2021 been developing a community plan for York Central to offer a different way of developing places.

2021 was a busy year for York’s planning and development communities. 2022 will hopefully offer greater opportunities for people to become involved and York Civic Trust hopes that more people do as it is only through your passion and involvement that York changes in the way that works for the people of York.

  • Andrew Morrison is chief executive of York Civic Trust