A MARKETING campaign to find a business buyer for the former Tyrls site in Centenary Square is about to be launched.

The site of the disused police station was demolished last year and a temporary garden created.

The project also included the relocation of 25 custody cells, plus three for vulnerable people, beneath the old police station and connected to the magistrates’ court through tunnels to the basement.

Outline planning permission was awarded to Bradford Council for grade A office space of around 95,000 square feet with a projection of creating around 450 jobs. There is also the potential of retail, cafe and drinking establishment uses at ground floor level.

Redevelopment of the site was made possible through a £5.2million injection of Government cash, part of a £572 million “growth deal” struck between the Government and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority last summer for the Leeds city region, which includes the Bradford district. Funding is in place until 2020.

Councillors were given a progress report at a meeting of the Regeneration and Economy Overview and Scrutiny committee on Wednesday evening.

Andy Taylor, the council’s economic development delivery manager, said having a blank canvas was going to be difficult to sell but a huge marketing project was about to begin.

“We are going out to appoint a marketing agent to use their contacts and will be attending marketing and real estate networking events.

“Often, unless you have something coming out of the ground it is hard to sell. People don’t often believe it until they see it. We know there are many empty offices in Bradford and people would say why building something new when these are there, but to attract class A businesses you need brand new offices. We want to attract more businesses into the centre and we know people are looking at Bradford as a business opportunity.”

Part of the campaign will require an options appraisal process, part of which will consider the council building the offices themselves, but this was regarded a very unlikely option.

Mr Taylor added: “This should be looked at as the whole of City Park and not just the Tyrls and as part of the regeneration of Bradford. The City Park site is a fantastic site. The temporary garden was created to provide a tidy area but was only ever temporary. Marketing the site for business accommodation will bring new investments and support into the city centre and bring improvement to Bradford.”

A report is to be taken to a meeting of the executives in the autumn and a further progress report will be brought back to Regeneration and Economy Overview and Scrutiny committee in 12 months time.