Construction on York’s community stadium, future home to English National League North football club York City, is set to begin after contractors were appointed for the project.
The upcoming £41m (€46m/$53m) community venue project will also become the home of Championship rugby league club the York City Knights.
Buckingham Group Contracting will replace ISG, who pulled out of the project last December.
In July, York City Council gave the green light for the building work to begin this month on the Monks Cross site, with the main construction phase taking up to 16 months.
A council spokesman said that pre-construction design work had begun, and stated: “The new stadium, leisure facilities and the community hub will all open in 2019, along with the new cinema and commercial units.”
In addition to the 8,000-capacity stadium, a new commercial development on the site will feature a Cineworld cinema complex, including an Imax screen, five restaurants and up to three retail units.
A new swimming pool, gym, dance studio, indoor and outdoor climbing facilities and sports hall with spectator seating will also be added to the site in a new leisure facility.
There will also be an additional NHS outpatient service to be offered from a community hub, with the entire complex on track to be open in 2019. A new library and York Against Cancer retail unit could be added to the plans, subject to approval by the board. The council revealed all community partner legal agreements are expected to be signed for the stadium complex this month.
Council leader David Carr said: “The stadium and accompanying leisure facilities will benefit the whole of York, with improved facilities that will be important for communities, especially in terms of health and wellbeing, education and leisure.”
Cllr Ann Reid, interim executive member for leisure, said: “This month, we are expecting to sign agreements with two community partners and are looking forward to working with them to make the most of the stadium and accompanying facilities.”
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