Green light for £22m Fruit Market plans

The latest phase of redevelopment at Hull’s Fruit Market, including a new head office for safety company Arco, has been given the green light.The £22m scheme from developer Wykeland Beal, which includes a 350 space multi-storey car park, 34 residential units and 3,000 sq ft of retail/leisure space, was approved by Hull City Council’s Planning Committee yesterday (3 April 2019).A new five-story building is being developed for Arco, with the safety company returning to the Fruit Market, where it opened its first shop in 1893. The new office has been designed to enhance the existing environment and blend with the current architecture including the @TheDock tech campus and its centrepiece building, C4DI.The development, on a site between Blackfriargate and Humber Street currently used as a temporary car park, is the latest major element of the £80m transformation of the Fruit Market waterfront quarter.Joint venture company Wykeland Beal is behind the regeneration of the Fruit Market in partnership with Hull City Council.Construction of the 55,000 sq ft head office building is due to begin this summer, with the aim of about 450 Arco staff moving in by the end of 2020.