Two firms are now competing for the contract to design, build and operate the stadium and their final bids are expected to be submitted to City of York Council by the end of May.

The authority said the chosen operator will be announced towards the end of the summer, when stadium designs are also set to be unveiled. 

Council leader James Alexander has tweeted that construction work will start by March next year.

This would mean the stadium opening for the 2016/17 season. Coun Sonja Crisp, the council’s cabinet member for leisure, culture and tourism, said: “The council is in the final stage of procurement for the design, build and operation of the community stadium, with the two shortlisted bidders.

“This scheme will provide a range of significant benefits for the city, including new high-quality facilities for football, rugby and athletics, a range of much-needed community facilities and new jobs in the building and running of the complex. We’re at an exciting part of the procurement process, and I look forward to the final proposals from our bidders so we can appoint the preferred bidder by the end of summer.”

Sophie Hicks, City’s communications and community director, said: “We are delighted everything is progressing well with the community stadium project.

“There continues to be much hard work behind the scenes and the next stage will be the announcement of the preferred bidder. It will be at this point when architectural plans for the stadium can be shown to supporters and the general public.

“The opening of the John Lewis store somehow makes the project feel more real, and we can’t wait to play our first game in the new stadium in July 2016.”

From The York Press dated Saturday 12th April.

City of York Athletic Club was originally expected to move to a new base at the York Sport Village, in Heslington, ahead of Huntington Stadium – its current home – being demolished to make way for a new community stadium.

However, City of York Council said last year that the risk of the project’s costs increasing had led to a switch of sites, with the existing cinder track at the University of York’s nearby Heslington West campus being replaced instead.

A planning application for the work has been submitted and a decision is due to be made at the start of May, with the aim of completing the floodlit, county-standard track by the end of the year.

The council has said the upgrade will save a considerable amount and mean the new track will be ready sooner than the Sports Village scheme would have been.

It will also be of better quality and have a field events area, although opposition parties questioned the decision process behind the change of sites when it was announced last September.

A clubhouse and new sand-based football and hockey pitch are also intended to be built next to the site.

A statement from Sports Labs Ltd, the agents for the scheme, said: “The proposals will provide a new, up-to-date athletics facility for both students and the community, which will attract new users and national competitions to the area.

“The university is keen to have a first-class sports facility at their disposal. The local community, in particular the running clubs, were also consulted and they would like a safe and clean facility suitable for their members.

….“The athletics club wanted a track suitable to hold significant events and provide ample opportunities for training.”

Sports Labs said the Heslington West site was “not without problems”, as the existing track has six lanes and its replacement will have eight, and work will have to be carried out around water pipes which are in poor condition.

New 20-metre floodlights and a three-metre perimeter fence will also be installed.

From: The York Press dated Saturday 8th February.

An agreement between the University of York, the Athletics Club and City of York Council paves the way for the establishment of an athletics facility, which will be completed by the end of 2014.
 
The decision to build the facility on the Heslington West complex is based on the substantial benefits identified over earlier plans to base the new facility at the £10 million York Sport Village near Grimston Bar. Considerable cost savings have been achieved through the use of existing infrastructure at Heslington West and have enabled the provision of higher quality and a wider range of facilities.  The short construction schedule will also allow York Athletics Club to vacate Huntington Stadium between seasons, causing minimal disruption to their sporting programme. 

Cllr Sonja Crisp, cabinet member for Leisure, Culture and Tourism said: “This is an important day for the development of community sport in the city. Working in partnership with the Athletics Club and the University has enabled us to move forward with our commitment to the delivery of a new high quality athletics facility that is sustainable and will support the growth of athletics in York for years to come.”

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of York, Professor Brian Cantor, said: “We have a deep commitment to promoting the health and well-being of people throughout the city. Many members of the community already take advantage of our outstanding sports and recreational facilities, and it gives us great pleasure to enhance our facilities by providing a superb new athletics track for all our students and for the City of York Athletics Club.”
 
Neil Hunter, the chair of the Athletic Club, said: “Confirmation that the athletics stadium will definitely be delivered in 2014 is very welcome news.  The club has actively increased participation over a number of years in anticipation of this and consequently space at the existing facility is at a premium.  The move cannot come soon enough.
 
“It is clear that the Council and University share the same vision for a community based athletic club in York and we now have agreements in place regarding the long term commitment to this great new facility. I am confident that the new facilities will further increase the number of participants able to enjoy athletics and, in addition, we may see more York based athletes at the 2016 Rio Olympic & Paralympic Games”.

Oakgate (Monks Cross) Ltd, which secured planning permission last year for new John Lewis, Marks & Spencer and Next stores at Monks Cross, needed a patch of City of York Council-owned land to finalise the sale of the retail scheme to Allied British Funds Pension Fund (ABF), saying the deal could not be completed without the site.

The firm will exchange this for land it owns at Monks Cross, which the council said would help deliver the project to build a neighbouring 6,000-seater stadium for York City FC and York City Knights, scheduled to be ready for the start of the 2015/16 sporting season. Both parcels of land were valued at £20,000.

A council report said the land swap would allow Oakgate, through the sale of the stores scheme to ABF, to produce a bond for the £13 million the firm will contribute towards the stadium.

Officials said the council could hold onto the land it owns as a “commercial ransom strip”, but would be “disadvantaging itself” as this would threaten Oakgate’s stadium payment.

From: The York Press dated Wednesday 10th April.

City of York Council has produced a timeline for how the project to build a 6,000-seater home for York City FC and York City Knights on the Huntington Stadium site at Monks Cross is scheduled to move forward during 2013, after proposals for the shopping complex which will fund it were approved last year.

The authority said final bids to design, build and operate the stadium will be received in August, with two bidders being shortlisted, and a contract will be awarded in October. A full planning application – including the stadium’s appearance – will be submitted the following month and the successful bidder will formally sign the contract early next year.

Meanwhile, City of York Athletics Club – which will move from its current Huntington Stadium base to a new track and facilities as part of the York Sport Village at the University of York – has said its new home is set to be ready by the end of this year.

Building work on the community stadium was originally due to begin towards the end of 2013 and be completed by November 2014, or the following March. But construction will now not start until June 2014, meaning the venue will be open for the start of the 2015/16 sporting season.

Councillor Sonja Crisp, the council’s cabinet member for leisure, culture and tourism, said it was “a really exciting time” for the stadium project. She said: “Initial bids setting out the outline proposals of five bidders have been submitted to the council and we will have narrowed these down to two final bidders later in the year.

“We will then select a preferred bidder and award the contract.”

She said a community archaeological dig at the stadium site, in early 2014, would allow sports clubs, schools and other groups to get involved in the scheme and bring the history of the site together with its sporting future.

York City chairman Jason McGill said he hoped ideas for the stadium’s design could be radically different. He said: “We’re looking for something innovative, iconic, beneficial to the city of York culturally and historically, and somewhere everybody – not just football and rugby league fans – feels welcome.”

Neil Hunter, who chairs the athletics club, said he had been told the Sport Village facilities would be operating by the end of this year. He said: “This will allow us to introduce more people to athletics and open up avenues we do not have at the moment.”

 From: The York Press dated Wednesday 16th January.