This big new building, designed to be home to a government department, is set to be built in York.
Planning officers are recommending that the six-storey office block be approved.
It would be built on Leeman Road opposite the National Railway Museum as part of the York Central development, and would require the demolition of a railway building on the site.
A report to the City of York Council planning committee says: “It is anticipated that the office building would be used as a Government Hub.
“Government Hubs are intended to bring together occupiers from multiple government departments into a shared location, bringing investment in infrastructure and capital investment to cities other than London.”
It would incorporate a coffee shop on the ground floor, and a roof terrace “which will include outdoor seating space set amongst planters for use by occupiers of the building”, says the report.
The ‘Cinder Snicket’ which runs alongside the new building will become “a new planted pedestrian alley”.
The building known as the Biscuit Warehouse would be demolished to make way for the development.
It was built in the late 1920s as a railway store and was later turned into a training facility and accommodation for railway workers.
As for the look of the new building, “the Council’s Design and Conservation Manager comments that it is more varied than first apparent and has a robust weighty gravitas which is appropriate in this railway context. He considers that the deep recesses and angled reveal components should give an interesting play of light.”
An access road would be built off Cinder Street.
The development is “zero parking, except for blue badge spaces with greater reliance on sustainable transport modes.”
There would be 230 long-stay cycle parking spaces.
The report will be discussed at a planning meeting on Monday, 22 July. More details here.