RAIL heritage leaders have celebrated the work done to secure the future of a former York station which has become the city's £32 million council HQ.

City of York Council's West Offices base won the National Railway Heritage Restoration Award - the latest in a string of accolades for the building - last November, and the chairman and judges of the awards and representatives from Modern Railways magazine yesterday attended a ceremony to unveil a plaque commemorating the achievement.

The development was carried out by S Harrison and Buccleuch Property, transforming the deteriorating Grade II listed building on Station Rise into the council's customer centre with 1,400 staff housed there. It was voted "most meritorious restoration project", and Coun Dafydd Williams, cabinet member for finance, performance and customer service, said: "I am delighted those who seek to safeguard the nation's railway heritage have recognised the respect we have shown to the original 1840s station buildings as we have turned them into first-class, sustainable modern offices."