The only speculative office development being built in York will eventually have peak rental figures of £12.50 per square foot.

That price tag for moving into the nearly 25,000sq ft Saviour House, St Saviourgate, once it is completed in October has not been seen since the heady days of high commercial property values in the city back in the 1980s or, more recently, the one-off spectacular of the MAFF building at Peasholme Green.

Rentals in some select properties in Piccadilly then equalled it, although prices in York are now generally at between £11 and £11.50 per sq ft.

Richard Flanagan, associate of Sanderson, Townend & Gilbert, the chartered surveyors in North Street, York, which is marketing the five-floor project, said that the total rental yield was potentially more than £300,000.

"But it is only to be expected, with demand for city centre offices hugely outstripping supply," said Mr Flanagan.

The chartered surveyor's practice is acting for the NFU Insurance Society whose offices were on the site.

Now, while their old building is being redesigned within its 1960s structural frame, the society's 80 staff have moved into 10,000sq ft of luxury offices in James Street.

The organisation, which provides a range of financial services, including insurance and life assurance for the agricultural sector, settled into the ground floor of James House, with HM Land Registry occupying the remaining first and second floors.

The move meant one of the biggest office rental deals last year, with the NFU Insurance Society Ltd taking on the James House lease for £117,500. But the intention has been to move back to St Saviourgate, occupying part of the new offices.

Mr Flanagan said early marketing of Saviour House through newspaper advertising, sending brochures to agents and targeting financial businesses as well as other sectors, yielded instant response. "It aroused intense interest," he said.

Saviour House will include carpeting throughout, raised floors and suspended ceilings.

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