WORK has begun on a new £1.4 million regional headquarters in York for a rapidly expanding national builder of retirement homes.

McCarthy & Stone plans to move from its existing north-east regional HQ in Lysander Close, Clifton Moor, to new offices in Wykeham Road on the Northminster Business Park, in Upper Poppleton, by next February or March.

The offices in Lysander Close have become too small to accommodate the firm's massive growth in the north-east from its original staff of four to 90, especially as the firm now plans to double in size over the next three years.

The site of the new office was bought from, and will be developed by, Northminster Properties Ltd, developer of the 13-acre Northminster Business Park. The two-storey, 9,200 sq ft building will be called Aspen House when finished early next year.

Steve Secker, who joined as McCarthy & Stone's regional managing director at the end of last year, said that growth made it obvious that the regional offices had to move. "But we decided to stay in York because most of the staff is based in the city which is at the heart of the region."

In the year to last August, his north-east region sold a total of 123 retirement apartments and already his organisation was buying sufficient land to meet the envisaged three-year expansion.

This included negotiations to buy land in Limb Street, Pocklington, and planning applications for retirement homes in Wigginton village and in Market Weighton.

His office was already selling apartments from nine sites in Bedale, Driffield, Beverley, Kirk Ella, Cottingham in the East Riding, Middlesbrough, North Shields, Whickam, near Newcastle and Corbridge, Northumberland.

Work is due to start next year on building 98 apartments on both sides of Gordon Road, in Bridlington old town; demolition work has begun to clear a site in Upgang Lane, Whitby for 47 apartments; and clearing work is due to start in September to make way for 61 apartments in Long Road, Thirsk.

Updated: 09:31 Thursday, April 21, 2005