A LEADING architect has claimed the proposed Hungate redevelopment scheme has the potential to create a "wonderful new area of York in which to live and work."

Nick Allen said the massing and scale of the proposed buildings, some of which will reach seven storeys high, was significantly different from the rest of York. But he claims this may be no bad thing.

Mr Allen, of the Leeds-based firm Allen Tod Architecture, has spoken out about the £100 million project in the latest issue of Regeneration & Renewal, a specialist magazine for architects, planners and urban regeneration specialists.

He said that since he had moved to York 25 years ago, he had seen the city undergo a huge transformation which was not yet complete.

The future was increasingly seen as centring on its university and spin-off, knowledge-based industries, he said. "This, combined with York's undoubted physical attractiveness as a place to live, has created huge pressures for housing and commercial development in an area where expansion is tightly constrained by the green belt."

He said the pressure was particularly acute within the historic core, and this was what made architects and urban designers John Thompson and Partners' masterplan for Hungate - York's last major redevelopment site in the historic core - so important.

"The appointment of John Thompson, with his long history of community engagement in planning, was an astute choice by the scheme's private-sector development consortium.

"His approach involved the establishment of a community forum, kick-starting the process with a community planning weekend." He said the design team had met with the community forum on a monthly basis and it appeared that its involvement and suggestions had been reflected in the proposals.

He claimed Thompson's urban design analysis of the existing character of York was "an exemplar of clarity and understanding", and it had translated well into the proposals.

But this was where the debate would focus. "York is essentially small-scale, with landmark buildings, but most of Thompson's proposals are for buildings of 3.5 to seven storeys, that is landmark building height."

The massing and scale was significantly different from the rest of York. "But this may be no bad thing - it is essentially urban, with urban densities, and certainly avoids any hint of folksy, dinky architecture."

Updated: 09:30 Friday, March 28, 2003