A DELEGATION of building experts have been given a behind-the-scenes look at how work is progressing on York’s new council headquarters.

West Offices in Station Rise, which housed the city’s first railway station, is to become the new state-of-the-art base for City of York Council, with the aim being for the scheme to be completed by the end of 2012.

Members of York’s Guild of Building took a tour around the site to run the rule over the challenges the developers, York Investors LLP, are facing as they transform the historic building.

The company, which comprises S Harrison Developments and Buccleuch Property, won the tender for the project after the collapse of the council’s original plan for a purpose-built HQ in Hungate, with planning permission being secured earlier this year.

“One of the challenges has been to ensure we sensitively integrate the listed building and its historic fabric with a modern and sustainable office environment in which the council can deliver the operational cost-savings to which it is committed,” said S Harrison design manager Chris Hale, who showed the Guild delegation around together with architect Matt Parkins.