A Lido-style open air public swimming pool could be built as part of the massive York Central project.

The master developers behind the homes, hotel and office scheme have told The Press they have ‘aspirations’ to create such a Lido as “a gift to the city".

It came as they outlined the progress made on York Central at an exclusive briefing for The Press.

York Central has been planned for decades and is finally coming to fruition thanks to £138 million of public funding to prepare the brownfield site, including roads and groundwork.

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Developers McLaren Regeneration and Arlington Real Estate will deliver 2,500 homes and one million square feet of offices and retail in the £2 billion project on largely former railway sidings.

Tom Gilman, managing director of McLaren Regeneration and Allan Cook, managing director of Arlington Real Estate, stress they both seek a quality development to reflect the scheme’s importance, not only to York, but to the whole of the UK, as its largest, single regeneration project in decades.

The hotel and the squareThe hotel and the square (Image: Supplied)

Arlington has recently delivered a regeneration scheme in Durham but this is much larger at 45 hectares (112 acres).

To kick things off, the pair seek to create a ‘substantial’ start to the new commercial and housing district from day one.

Plans include an enhanced railway museum, including a new central hall.

There is a new public realm called Museum Square, which has detailed approval, with work due to start in the first quarter of 2025.

The government hubThe government hub (Image: Supplied)

There will also be a new road, from Water End, past the museum and running towards the Marble Arch Tunnel, which will divert Leeman Road.

A second public realm space will be created - currently “the Coaldrops” - next to which will be a new, four-star hotel.

Three sides of this square will be taken by the 200-bed hotel, a 195,000 square foot government hub office block, which received planning approval, and a second ‘speculative’ office block of around 100,000 square feet.

In addition, further back away from the station entrance will be 14 acres of parkland and 900-1,000 residential units built in a phase one, about 40 per cent of which are hoped to be affordable.

Both developers say they would like the ‘speculative’ office block to be an innovation centre, but it is ‘extremely challenging’ for such schemes to get the funding needed to build them.

Some of the proposed parklandSome of the proposed parkland (Image: Supplied)

York is well presented in the ‘bioeconomy’, says Mr Cook, and the pair are putting together an ‘economic strategy’ to create such an innovation centre.

“I cannot say we are definitely doing it, but that’s the direction of travel,” he said.

However, the hotel is most definitely on, with it attracting interest already from more that “30 interested parties” to operate it.

With York Central taking decades to bring to this stage, designs have evolved along the way, to account for latest trends and the higher environmental standards, including the Net Zero or near-enough standards demanded by planners today.

Sustainability will be at the core of the scheme, with the pair confirming tests are planned soon to assess the viability of heating the entire development from hot water found underground.

Such testing would entail digging a hole 1.5km or a mile deep to see if the water is hot enough or flows fast enough for this.

Alan said: “We are exploring the possibility of a lido, a gift to York, a normal, year-round lido. It would be part of the park, it could be geothermal, with hot pools and a lido. It is an aspiration.”

In addition, reflecting the post-pandemic world and the developers ‘embracing’ a new transport strategy from central government and the city council, the latest plans aim to be “far more car light” with “car free squares".

Two multi-storey car parks would be removed from earlier plans, with people encouraged to use park and ride, buses, trains and bikes.

“Will there be a need for them in 50 years?" Alan said.

All this, he continues, would be in phase one and when complete “York Central would be recognised as a place in its own right".

“It will not be developed piecemeal, you need critical mass.”

Already, major segments such as the Railway Museum, Museum Square, and the government hub have planning approval and the hotel is at the design stage, with its final plan at reserved matters due for submission next year. The agreed strategy is work could start in 2026.

The scheme has the support of City of York Council, the Mayor of York and North Yorkshire David Skaith and public consultation events also showed further local support, with further engagement planned in the coming months.

Already central government has spent £138 million on preparing the site, including roads and delivering piling to support the buildings.

Alan and Tom added: “We are committed to working with all partners to finally deliver this fantastic project – the infrastructure is underway, and we are now working up the detailed designs to offer as many benefits as possible to everyone in York.”