New waiting room for York crematorium

A new waiting room and toilet block are to be built at a crematorium in York.

Work to upgrade the facility in Bishopthorpe Road is due to start on Wednesday, July 1 at a cost of about £560,000.

Katie Lomas, York Council's major projects spokesperson, said regular maintenance of and investment in the crematorium was "key to delivering services for residents at a sad and sensitive time".

The new facilities are set to be ready by the autumn and services will be unaffected by the works.

Council officials have previously said the crematorium was in dire need of modernisation and needed extra capacity to help it compete with newer private venues, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

They said the work had followed years of talks with funeral directors and any further delays in improvements could see revenues and ultimately the facility itself lost.

Lomas said: "I'm glad we're able to offer an additional, new waiting area and look forward to it opening this autumn."

York Crematorium was built in 1962 for the York Corporation, according to the York C20 Architectural Gazette project.

It was designed by city architect Ernest Firth following a rise in the popularity of cremations in the previous decades.

The designer, along with project architect Richard Sawyer and City Engineer CJ Minter, did not want to hide the building's purpose and its chimney features prominently.

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