The launch of City Park promises to be a terrific day and I expect it will be one of the highlights of my year as Lord Mayor of Bradford.

I hope everyone who has been to City Park has, like me, been impressed by what they’ve seen. This is a public space of the highest standard and gives us something we can be truly proud of.

I would like to thank all of the city centre residents, commuters, businesses, workers and visitors who have been affected by the building work over the past two years.

There has inevitably been some disruption but everyone has shown a huge amount of patience and I hope they agree with me that it has been worth any inconvenience caused.

When you think back to how much work has been carried out, you realise what an effort it has involved.

Re-routing one of the main roads through the city centre would, in itself, be a major project. But when you consider that part of Channing Way was then replaced by the biggest man-made water feature in the country, which involved digging 230m underground as well as countless other huge tasks, you realise what a massive achievement City Park represents.

All of the people who have been involved in making the scheme a reality – from the designers who came up with the concept all the way along to the wardens who now ensure it remains in tip-top condition – deserve our praise.

Having had the honour of laying the final granite sett within the Mirror Pool a few months ago, I know first-hand what kind of workmanship building City Park has involved, and you can see how well it has been carried out just by looking around the site.

This isn’t to suggest this is the end of the process – City Park has been built to encourage extra visitors and investment into the city centre as well as creating an attractive landmark in its own right. Saturday’s launch event does mark the completion of construction but work will go on to ensure it helps to transform our city centre.

Of course, buildings and urban landscapes ultimately gain their character from the people who use them and City Park will be no different.

I hope everyone makes the most of this new space and everything within it, whether that is interacting with the laser light projectors, enjoying the sculptures, taking time to sit and relax or, of course, splashing around in the fountains.

City Park presents Bradford with a tremendous opportunity to provide a positive new ‘postcard image’ of the city and district. It is down to us as Bradfordians to embrace it and make the most of it.

Saturday’s launch event will give us all a wonderful chance to do just that. I hope everyone has a brilliant time and that it is the first of many great days at City Park.