Three organisations have snapped up offices on the new £4 million high-tech Station Park development in York - triggering a wave of commercial property "musical chairs" throughout the city.

As many as 40 people working for the Inland Revenue are now in the process of moving out of the doomed Ryedale Building in Piccadilly and temporarily into a 6,000 sq ft building on the new Holgate Park commercial estate.

For the time being, the 209 remaining Inland Revenue staff in York - at another office in Piccadilly and at Hilary House in St Saviour's Place - are unaffected, but ultimately all three will be housed under one roof.

A spokeswoman for the Inland Revenue said that the move out of Ryedale Building to Station Park was prompted by the possibility of the highest office block in York being demolished to make way for the proposed Coppergate-Piccadilly redevelopment.

She said: "The plan is under continual review. When a suitable and appropriate building becomes available everyone will be re-housed under one roof and the move to Station Park is short term.

"We are trying to disrupt services as little as possible."

The Valuation Office Agency has also booked 8,000 sq ft of offices on the Station Park speculative development recently completed by Leeds-based Business Homes B1.

The 40 agency staff move out of Shelley House, Acomb Road, York, on April 20 and already the two-storey building owned by English Heritage is up for sale.

And another arrival at Station Park is Fibernet, the expanding national company which provides intense communications services via its national fibreoptic network for the likes of HSBC, Direct Line and, more relevantly, Card Protection Plan (CPP), also on the Holgate Park site.

Setting up a York telecommunications centre to house equipment and to act as a touchstone for its engineers is the result of 18 months of discussions between York Inward Investment Board and Fibernet.

Graeme Rudd, client services executive for York Inward Investment Board, welcomed the conversion of a 2,500 sq ft office there into a telecoms "hub" site for transmission equipment. He said: "Fibernet's presence gives even greater muscularity to the growing high-tech infrastructure in York."

Only one office block is left at the Station Park development, although the developers report that this is under negotiation with a Yorkshire organisation.

Simon Houlston, chief executive of Business Homes B1 said: "Now we are pushing ahead to try and secure some additional land on Holgate Park for further development."

Updated: 11:30 Tuesday, April 03, 2001