More than 200 staff at Corries Solicitors will move out of their four offices in York this Easter and gather under one roof at the Shepherd Developments' Stuart House.

They will occupy all three storeys of the 37,000 sq ft building in Hospital Fields Road, a speculative project completed by Shepherds last summer on land that it owned.

Stuart House is believed to have been leased to Corries for more than £520,000 on a 15-year lease with break clauses - one of the largest lettings in York for years.

The entire property has now been sold by Shepherd to Allied Dunbar Assurance plc for £6.73 million.

Rapidly-expanding Corries, which has a growing reputation in the personal injuries compensation sector, will move in time to reopen on April 13. By vacating its four offices, Corries is likely to spark a big shake up of availability in the commercial property market.

The Top Legal 500 firm will be leaving behind it empty offices on the first and fifth floors of Rowntree Wharf, the three-storey Minster House in Walmgate, another office nearby in Franklin's Yard, Fossgate, and the second floor of Merchant Chambers, also in Fossgate.

The move comes after Corries took an extra growth spurt by landing a more than £4 million contract last year to handle claims for Advance Claims Management, part of the Budget Insurance Group of Companies. At the time it was expected that the deal would generate 70 new jobs.

Tim Murden, director of Corries, said today: "By operating in one place we will improve communications and exchange of ideas, our information technology systems and information gathering. There is also the advantage of having car parking."

Nick Child, director of Shepherd Developments, said: "We are delighted to have achieved a single letting of the whole building to a prestigious tenant and this represents one of the largest office lettings in York for a number of years.

"We are also especially pleased at how quickly the building attracted a tenant and an investor-purchaser. (In only eight months since it was marketed). It all adds up to a significant vote of confidence in the York commercial property market."

Bruce Corrie, chairman of Corries Solicitors, said: "We are equally pleased to have found such a prestigious and flexible new home for our business which was established in York and has grown from strength to strength with a further office in Glasgow."

Stuart House , he said, also had space "for future envisaged growth".

Main contractor for Stuart House was Shepherd Developments' sister company, Shepherd Construction. Letting agents were Knight Frank and Lawrence Hannah & Skelton, and the sale was advised by Smith & Company, with Brackenridge Hanson & Tate advising Allied Dunbar.

Updated: 11:32 Friday, April 02, 2004