Developers sign deal for Allies & Morrison’s £1.1bn York Central scheme

McLaren Property and Arlington Real Estate have signed a development agreement on Allies & Morrison’s £1.1bn plan to redevelop a 45ha swathe of central York.

The 10-year deal with with Homes England and Network Rail marks a major step forward for the York Central project, which will see the construction of 2,500 homes, 20% of which will be affordable, one million sq ft of office and retail space and a new park.

Located between York railway station and the National Railway Museum, it is one of the largest brownfield sites in the UK and aims to create a major new mixed-use hub in the heart of the city centre.

Both the museum and the railway station will also be improved under the Allies & Morrison-designed masterplan, which is also seeing input from Arup, local landscape architect Barton Howe, project manager Gleeds and planning consultant Avison Young.

Sisk is already carrying out £135m of infrastructure works on the site including 2km of new roads, bus lanes, footpaths, cycleways and two new bridges linking the site across railway lines to surrounding neighbourhoods.

McLaren Property regional managing director Tom Gilman said the development deal was a “a fantastic opportunity for the city and a milestone moment” for the scheme,

“As York is my home city, I am genuinely thrilled to work with our partners, local stakeholders and the community on our vision to bring forward a scheme that will breathe new life and regenerate an unutilised brownfield site, connecting it to the great cathedral city of York,” he said.

Network Rail group property director Robin Dobson added: “York Central is a hugely important scheme and given its scale and significance to the region, signing the development agreement is a major step forward.”

The planning application for the site was submitted nearly six years ago in August 2018 following two years of development. Given outline approval the following year and cleared by then-communities secretary James Brokenshire, the plans were finally given detailed approval in 2021.