Shining a Spotlight on York Central at UKREiiF

With an action-packed itinerary aimed at connecting people, places and businesses to drive sustainable, inclusive and transformative investment and regeneration, UKREiiF represented another incredible opportunity to showcase the world class ambition for York Central and demonstrate how it will improve connectivity, build homes, create jobs, develop skills and secure opportunities for economic growth in York and the wider region.

By collaborating with York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority and a range of commercial partners, the York Central team was able to highlight some of the work already undertaken to ensure that the opportunities of this major regeneration scheme create a positive legacy for generations to come.

Partnerships for Connected Outcomes

Partnerships form the basis York Central’s delivery to date, thanks to the public private collaboration that has secured around £150million for new infrastructure and delivered an award-winning masterplan to secure outline planning, so it was fitting that our Development Director, Karen Stafeckis, took part in a panel session focussing on “Reimagining Urban Renewal: Aligning Infrastructure, Funding & Partnerships for Connected Outcomes” with the team at construction, property and management consultancy, RLB.

During the session York Central was described as the most exciting regeneration project in the UK and Karen explained how this big, complicated and ambitious scheme, first mooted back in 1970, aims to create a genuinely sustainable and well-designed place.

Discussions covered working in partnership with Homes England and York & North Yorkshire Combined Authority to “make brilliant schemes like York Central” happen, the need for agile decision making and focusing on the region’s strengths such as rail, bio agritech and digital to shape the thinking around urban renewal.

Doing Devolution Differently

Another panel session organised by York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority’s provided the opportunity to again share the vision and ambition of York Central and its opportunity to embrace devolution to drive innovation.

Karen explained how the York Central team and the Combined Authority carried out an early piece of work to define what the region needed and identify key areas to focus on and how York Central can have on the whole city and region. The next 12 months will be pivotal in making progress, with the next phase of planning due in Summer and a start on site expected next year.

The panel included Mayor David Skaith, James Farrar, CEO of York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, Jennifer Wood Chair of the Combined Authority’s Business Board and Tom Riordon, Northern Growth Envoy at HM Treasury.

Mayor Skaith explained that it was the people and places that made York and North Yorkshire truly special and we couldn’t agree more.

Spotlight on York Central

Our “Spotlight on York Central” event with York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority was an absolute highlight of the week.

Arlington Real Estate’s, Allan Cook, Executive Director of York Central, gave an in-depth overview of the scheme, showing the scale and ambition of the project, to an invited audience of investors and property and construction professionals.

An enthusiastic panel discussion followed, expertly hosted by BBC’s Clare Frisby, it featured Chris Boardman CBE from Active Travel England, who noted what a tremendous opportunity York Central was to promote active travel throughout the city and Councillor Claire Douglas, Leader of City of York Council who highlighted how the project would help retain and grow talent in York.

The Mayor of York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority David Skaith reinforced the positive impact it would have on the region and the North of England and Jack Widdup from McLaren Property focussed on the development’s capacity to meet a wide range of housing needs for the local community with over 2,500 mixed tenure homes, of which at least 20% will be affordable.

Backing from the Chancellor for York Government Hub

 Members of the York Central team also met Chancellor Rt Hon Rachel Reeves during a visit to the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority Pavilion.

Following the visit the Chancellor set out her continued commitment to the project, pledging renewed support for York’s Government hub. The hub at York Central is one of three projects she backed, including sites in Manchester and Darlington. It means that several thousand civil service jobs will be taken outside of London.

Set to be completed in 2027/2028, the Government is planning to build a state-of- the-art hub at York Central set over six storeys with space for up to 2,600 civil servants and complete with solar panels, air source heat pumps, a green roof and 230 cycle spaces.

Securing Social Value and Enabling Employment

In the “Beyond Bricks and Mortar: How Regeneration and Infrastructure Can Tackle the NEET Challenge” session, York Central’s Construction Director Rob Auld joined a panel session hosted by Caddick and Moda.

He joined Lucinda Yeadon from Leeds United, Jessica Herman from Caddick, Fiona Bolam from Leeds City Council and Andy Clarke from Ahead Partnerships to discuss the importance of collaborative working and embedding social value into regeneration projects right from the start. 

Rob explained how York Central is working in partnership with Homes England, City of York Council and Network Rail to make a real, long-term difference in the local community.

Initiatives like the York Central Community Fund with the Two Ridings Foundation are already having a positive impact among the local community. Construction skills partnerships with local universities and colleges and York Central are already established aiming to create more than 60 work experience places and 130 apprenticeships across a range of construction disciplines, through a new skills village.

York Central presents a multitude of opportunities for local people and businesses to get involved all the way through the project. It will be a major employer and a catalyst for building skills in the sector in York, with around 2,500 people working on the project during the construction phase. It will actively support the local supply chain, pushing the required 20% local employment figure to 40%. Plus, the innovation hub will also allow business to grow and be retained in the city.

Nurturing Networks

UKREiiF represents a huge opportunity to connect with colleagues, make new contacts and as well as nurture existing relationships, which is essential for a project on the scale of York Central. The team were involved in a multitude of other meetings and conversations to progress the ambitions for the scheme.

The pre-UKREiiF Great North Investment Summit provided interesting opportunities for conversations with local and national politicians. Tom Gilman from Mclaren Regeneration joined the Investor Hub with the UK Government campus, for a “Move Fast & Fix Things: The Reality of Leading Through Change” session hosted by the Government Property Agency. The Yorkshire & North East Investor & Developer Lunch and Network Rail and Platform 4’s breakfast networking both gave additional outlets for the team to shine a spotlight on York Central.

If you would like to find out more about York Central or have an idea to share with one of the team, contact us at contact@yorkcentral.uk.