GRAND designs have been unveiled for a new office development forming one of the central planks of the city centre's regeneration.

The remaining half of the old Tyrls police station in City Park could be demolished to make way for not one but three office blocks, it has been revealed.

And the proposed offices would have an unusual stepped design with multiple roof terraces offering views over City Park's award-winning mirror pool.

Bradford Council, which bought the former police station for the peppercorn price of £1 from the Homes and Communities Agency, wants to clear the site to make way for new Grade A office space.

But it would rely on private investors to come in and build the office blocks themselves.

The Council is now hoping to secure outline planning permission for the design, so it can flatten the site and offer it out to potential developers.

In the meantime, the land would be turned into an urban garden.

Council leader, Councillor David Green, said since the authority had taken on the building, the plan had always been to flatten the site and make it "shovel-ready" for a private developer.

He said: "There would be a prepared development site for the private sector to come in and build grade A offices with one of the best addresses in Bradford - that being One City Park."

An eye-catching design has been drawn up by architects from Manchester-based firm EC Harris.

Although it is an outline plan, and a more detailed design would have to be approved at a later stage, Cllr Green said he expected the final plans would look similar.

He said: "The outline design is intended to not only complement City Park and the mirror pool but also to allow people to see some of the important destinations and buildings beyond One City Park, such as the National Media Museum. At the moment, it tends to get a bit blocked by the buildings in front of it."

The plan shows the new office blocks ranging from three to five storeys, rising in height as they get further away from the mirror pool.

They would be called One City Park, Two City Park and Three City Park respectively.

In total they would provide 93,000 sq ft of grade A office space, enough to cater for at least 700 employees.

The plan also includes a new pedestrian route linking City Park with the National Media Museum.

The chairman of a society which campaigns for well-designed regeneration of the city has welcomed the progress.

Alan Hall, the chairman of Bradford Civic Society, said while he had not yet seen the design of the offices, he was in favour of the site's redevelopment.

He said it would be good to see a new-build replace the old police station, as long as views were preserved of the nearby Alhambra theatre and the former Odeon.

He said while some people might think the offices risked becoming a white elephant, he was optimistic that there would be takers for them.

He said: "People seem quite keen to take on office space."

Mr Hall said the Civic Society aimed to encourage good design which was sympathetic to its surroundings.

He said: "What we are interested in is preserving the old, and making better use of it, and encouraging new building that is imaginative and fits in with what is there."

The Tyrls police station was built in the 1970s but has lain empty since 2007. Half of it was demolished in 2010 to make way for the City Park development.

The basement of the building is still used as cells for Bradford and Keighley Magistrates' Court next door, but the construction of replacement cells is now under way behind the court.