£2m refurbishment for York's 50-year-old crematorium

Almost £2m is to be spent on refurbishing York's 50-year-old crematorium.

The work will ensure the cremators meet new rules on mercury emissions.

Warm gases from the cremators will also be used to heat the building reducing energy costs by up to 10% per year, the City of York Council said.

The work at the Bishopthorpe Road site is expected to take up to six month. The council said it did not expect the work to disrupt services.

The £1.7m scheme will provide two new cremators to replace the existing ones.

The new cremators will have a mercury removal capability which all cremators across the country are required to have by December 2012.

The Labour-run council said it was the first time since the crematorium opened in 1962 that work of this scale had taken place.

The council said it was funding the scheme with a 15-year loan.