City centre office block set to be demolished to make way for flats

Plans have been submitted for the Northern Rail offices in York city centre to be knocked down to make way for a new apartment block.

The proposals are part of the Roman Quarter scheme unveiled earlier this year – which would see a new visitor attraction, a hotel, 228 apartments, offices and new cafes, shops and restaurants built on the street.

Northern Rail have previously said they will relocate to another office in York.

The planning application says the office block could be demolished and replaced with a block of 58 flats.

The new apartments would be a mix of one or two-bedroom homes.

Rougier House plan

A statement says: “Consideration is being given to demolition of existing buildings (including a seven-storey office block and two three-storey buildings) and redevelopment of the site with apartments (up to 10 storeys) and archaeology museum (two storey basement).

“The site comprises three individual buildings (Northern House, Rougier House and Society Bar).

“Northern House and Rougier House are currently being used as commercial offices (Network Rail etc) while Society Bar is a licensed public house.”

The report adds that there will be space for 24 cars and 90 bike parking places.

A further planning application has been submitted for Rougier House – which lies between Northern House and Society Bar – to be turned from offices into 10 flats.

‘Iconic development’

In June York-based developers North Star unveiled plans for the £150 million scheme to revamp Rougier Street.

The new Roman museum would be on the site of Society Bar. The new 169-bedroom hotel – set to be run by brand Native – would be built opposite the Malmaison hotel, which is due to open next year.

There are also plans by York Archaeological Trust for a ‘once in a generation’ dig on the site of the proposed Roman attraction – similar to the one it staged in Coppergate in the 1970s prior to its creation of the ground-breaking Jorvik Viking Centre.

Society Bar would be demolished in the first phase to make way for the dig and Roman attraction.

A North Star spokesperson said the scheme would replace ‘unattractive buildings with a new iconic development the whole city can be proud of,’ adding: “It will be the final piece in the jigsaw to complete the renaissance of this part of the city centre and also deliver something globally unique.”

A spokesman for the project said the 33,000 sq ft Roman attraction would be double the size of the Jorvik Viking Centre.

He added that early predictions were that it would receive about half a million visitors per year and add £20 million to York’s economy.