THE restoration of a historic building on York’s riverside looks set to take a leap forward.

A restaurateur has come forward to redevelop the former waterworks at Engine House, beside Lendal Bridge.

Planning permission was granted in January 2008, for a complex including a restaurant, an apartment and a leisure suite.

The new developer wants to open a larger restaurant than first-planned though, using the entire building. A planning application has now been submitted to City of York Council, seeking permission to press ahead with the work.

Richard Hampshire of LHL Group, which is handling the planning application, said the identity of the restaurateur would be revealed shortly.

He said: “It is an independent restaurateur and will be a high-quality restaurant.”

The engine house is part of the Lendal Tower complex at the eastern end of Lendal Bridge.

The tower was originally part of York’s defences before, in the 1600s, it became the city’s first waterworks with a horse-powered pump supplying the city via pipes made from hollowed-out tree trunks.

The site is currently one of several hundred empty businesses in York, with the recession having quashed much development.

As reported in The Press earlier this month, there were 673 empty business premises in the city on June 1, the highest for at least nine years and an increase of more than 200 since June 2008.

In the last 13 days of May, the number rose by 24 – equivalent to almost two a day.

City of York Council leader Andrew Waller said the council was doing what it could to help.