TWO architectural groups have raised fears over York’s new council headquarters as planners prepare to decide whether the scheme should go ahead.

The city’s original railway station in Station Rise is earmarked to become a state-of-the-art base for City of York Council in a £43.8 million scheme.

But the proposed transformation of West Offices has sparked concerns among two groups focused on preserving York’s heritage, who are worried it will not sufficiently protect the building’s history.

If the plans which have now been submitted are approved, the HQ is scheduled for completion by the end of 2012 and will include the authority’s main customer centre.

But York Georgian Society chairman Richard Green said: “We consider siting the new building in this position will result in severe damage to, if not the loss of, all those surviving features which demonstrate the original function of the buildings as a railway station.

“The society believes such treatment fails to recognise the historical and architectural importance and interest of the buildings. We ask the scheme should not proceed in its present form and we strongly urge that it be reconsidered and amended.”

David Brinklow, who chairs the Yorkshire Architectural and York Archaeological Society, said that although they were “very much in favour” of the HQ scheme, they “remain to be convinced” the current proposals would protect West Offices’ original features.

Chris Hale, design manager for S Harrison Development Ltd, who is leading the design team for the building’s owners, York Investors LLP, said: “It is pleasing these organisations are broadly in sympathy with our aims.

“We recognise their concerns, but it is a question of balance and we have received overwhelming public support for our plans. Our scheme is designed to reflect the heritage of the existing building and ensure its future is safeguarded by bringing it back into productive use.

“The building will be in the hands of a custodian who will respect and maintain it for future generations, and we will be providing a modern, sustainable, functional HQ of a quality which befits our city.”