Work has started on York's first eco-friendly business centre, being developed by property company The Helmsley Group for City of York Council and Ilchester Estates. Located at the popular Clifton Moor out-of-town business park, the £3 million purpose built eco-friendly small business centre will replace two smaller commercial centres, which currently accommodate new and growing businesses and will both be redeveloped for other uses for the City Council. Designed to provide the occupiers with quality modern accommodation built to the most up to date sustainable standards, there will be green technologies used within the building and recycled building materials wherever possible. The property, which is of an innovative design, will extend to approximately 20,000 sqft and will include 8,250 sqft of office/studio space, 8,125 sqft of workshop, 2,000 sqft management suite along side a cafe and management suite. Let to the City of York council the building will provide space for the Young Business Project which helps and mentors York's young entrepreneurs and new business start ups. With room for 60 businesses the energy efficient accommodation will be offered at low, subsidised rents to business start-ups, who will be allowed to stay for a maximum of four years. Designed by York-based DSP Architects and being built by Lotus Construction Ltd, the flexible accommodation has been innovatively designed to create a sense of community for the occupiers to enable them to interact and benefit from each other's expertise. Ian McAndrew, associate director at York-based property investment and development company The Helmsley Group, said: "This eco-friendly building is the first Enterprise Centre to be built in the UK by the private sector for the public sector as far as we are aware. It is a fantastic example of how we believe buildings in the future will be developed. "This is a first for York and the city is leading the way in environmentally friendly construction. We are receiving interest from other local authorities, economic development units, inward investors and further education providers from throughout the UK." The sustainable features will include ground source heat pumps providing occupiers with "free heat" using energy from the earth to heat and cool the building, a wind turbine generating energy for communal areas, water saving devices, a green roof, lighting saving controls linked to daylight levels and rainwater harvesting for use within the building. Councillor Stephen Galloway said: "I am delighted that residents will now be able to see tangible progress on a building which will not only provide high quality development space for our starter businesses but will also do so in an environmentally friendly way. Some of the design features incorporated into this building will be exemplars of design in the future, complementing the lead given by the Council's own Eco Depot last year. We are very pleased with the direction that The Helmsley Group are giving on sustainability design features."