BRADFORD Council is to begin marketing the former police station site in the city centre to developers shortly as demolition work continues to clear it.

Workers began demolishing The Tyrls, on the edge of City Park, earlier this week, with machinery breaking through from the Prince's Way side of the building to the centre courtyard. The next stage will see the building being taken down floor by floor from the inside out.

Now leader of the Council, Councillor David Green, has told the Telegraph & Argus that the prime site will shortly be marketed now demolition is under way.

He also indicated that the work the authority is doing to make the site more marketable - carrying out the demolition and clearing the site - is "money well spent".

He said: "We will be marketing the site shortly and with the benefit of the outline planning permission developers will have some comfort that they will be able to press ahead with the development, which is why we made the application.

"Our aim has been to 'de-risk' the site by meeting the demolition and site preparation costs which will make it more attractive to a potential developer.

"Given the employment opportunities an office development will bring to the city and the fact that it will further enhance City Park, I believe it is money well spent."

Work is expected to last until mid July, at which point the authority hopes to create a temporary green space for the public to use, added Cllr Green, until an office development can take place.

Outline plans are already in place for three new office blocks of between three and five storeys. The office blocks, called One City Park, Two City Park and Three City Park, aim to provide 93,000 sq ft of grade A office space, enough to house 700 employees.

The Tyrls building has been empty since 2007, having been used for three decades before Bradford South Police relocated to Trafalgar House, in Nelson Street.

It was partly demolished in 2010 as City Park was being built, due to the continued need to use the cells which are connected to the magistrates' court by an underground tunnel.

Now new magistrates' court cells, which are part of the project to free up the key city centre site for redevelopment, have opened, it allows the remainder of The Tyrls to go.

The work to build the new cells as well as demolish the remainder of the former police station and clear the site for redevelopment is expected to cost £4.5 million, with £2.2m of this being met by the Homes and Communities Agency and the remaining £2.3m being paid for with cash secured by Bradford Council from the Regional Growth Fund.