AHEAD of the long-awaited regeneration of the Foss Islands Road area of York, which is still in the planning stages, York construction firm William Birch & Sons has completed the design and build of a £1 million office development there.

The 8,000 sq ft three-storey office building, known as Foss Court, has been speculatively built on land next to William Birch's former head office on the York inner ring road alongside offices now occupied by London & York investment consultants.

Richard Flanagan, of Lawrence Hannah & Skelton, joint agents of the scheme along with Briggs Burley, said: "This is an extremely high-quality building with its own car parking, which meets the demands of the modern office user.

"Foss Islands Road is set to be transformed in the next couple of years with the development of a major new retail park, further enhancing the attraction of the area.

"Foss Court provides the perfect opportunity for other professional services companies to gain an early foothold in this up-and-coming area of the city, with its excellent access to the city centre, the A1079, A64 and A19."

Chris Birch, managing director of William Birch & Sons, which moved to larger premises at Osbaldwick two years ago, said: "Foss Islands is already an established office location with the DEFRA headquarters and firms of solicitors in the immediate vicinity.

"The building has been designed to accommodate a number of businesses as each floor provides around 2,500 sq ft of open plan office space, or it can be let as a whole to just one business probably with around 100 staff."

Rental is likely to be £14 per sq ft.

For further information phone Briggs Burley on 01904 654438 or Lawrence Hannah & Skelton on 01904 659800.

Updated: 09:35 Tuesday, November 23, 2004