Part of the wider 45ha, 2,500-home masterplan, which already has outline planning approval, the latest reserved matters application (known as Phase 1C) includes buildings by Haworth Tompkins, Cartwright Pickard and 3D Reid, plus new public realm by Grant Associates.
As well as 999 mixed tenure homes, 20 per cent of which will be designated ‘affordable’, this final portion of Phase 1 includes a 213-bedroom hotel, a 9,214m² innovation hub, 6,434m² of retail and leisure space, a new western entrance to York Station, and ‘extensive’ parkland.
Reserved matters approval was secured last year for Sheppard Robson’s 12,511m² Government Property Agency office, which could hold up to 2,600 civil servants, and re-form landscape architecture will deliver the proposed Museum Square.
Homes England and Network Rail have also appointed development partners McLaren Property and Arlington Real Estate to deliver the scheme, which is backed by York Council and the National Railway Museum.
Once complete, York Central will deliver a new neighbourhood and district next to the city’s train station on former railway land.
Phase 1C as submitted December 2025
Tom Gilman, managing director of McLaren Regeneration, said the Phase 1C submission marked ‘another important milestone in the planning and delivery process’ and demonstrated the ‘continuing momentum of this exciting project’.
He added: ‘At a critical time for the nation’s economy, when the government is issuing a clarion call to “build, baby, build”, we are moving full steam ahead to deliver essential new homes, work and leisure and establishing a new live-work-play community in one of the biggest milestones in my home city of York’s illustrious history.’
The project, which is larger in area than the regeneration of London’s Kings Cross, has already netted more than £135 million of government funding for infrastructure.
A decision from the City of York Council on the Phase 1C application is expected in spring 2026, which will determine the future delivery programme timeline.
The original York Central masterplan