The creation of the City Park was a massive, inter-connected design, engineering and construction project that began life with Will Alsop’s masterplan in 2003, an ambitious 20-year regeneration blueprint which had at its heart a body of water on Centenary Square.

Although Alsop’s initial vision had to be altered as consultations and investigations proceeded, the idea of a flexible and usable space with a water feature as the key ingredient has remained uppermost in the process.

In 2006, the design evolved through the Bowl Neighbourhood Development Framework. After consultation with investors and residents, the masterplan design took on board two major comments.

Firstly the Pool was too large and made the city centre inaccessible, and secondly Bradford needed a central business district on the edge of the Bowl, creating a high-value, attractive location for businesses.

The design was also shaped by several engineering feasibility studies which looked into the water sources, courses and usability.

The design evolved to take on board phasing of the projects – firstly building the City Park while keeping the ambition of a central business district.

The designs for Norfolk Gardens were also simplified to make sure the design, materials and construction of the main city park area were top quality.

When it came to making the designs a reality, in came Arup, an independent firm of designers, planners, engineers, consultants and technical specialists employed on the City Park project.

One of the biggest engineering tasks was making the design work on its particular geographical properties – the City Park is located on ground that is comprised of soft aluvial deposits from Bradford Beck, not ideal for heavy construction work.

But these aluvium deposits are overlaid on a mudstone rock which can be used as a base for building piles.

The Pavilion was constructed on piles which are approximately 12m long and bored into the mudstone. The piles transfer the weight of the building from the ground level to the rock below. This provided the building with solid platform on which to be built.

The water below, however, feeds the Mirror Pool itself.

There are two primary aquifers below the City Park. In September 2009 a borehole was drilled to the rough rocks aquifer to provide a water supply to the Mirror Pool.

In addition to water supply there is an opportunity to use the ground water to provide heat through the use of a ground source heat pump.

Above ground, Channing Way (a major bus route) was closed and the old footbridge over Hall Ings removed.

Utilities (such as gas, electric, telecomms cables) ran under Channing Way, so one of the first works for the city park was to divert these utilities around the Mirror Pool area.

The design also called for the demolition of the old police station. During the site clearance, plants and small trees were re-located to Bradford’s parks while larger trees have been chipped for use as biofuel in the City Hall biomass boiler.

Benches, bollards, bins, postboxes and telephone kiosks were all removed to storage yards for re-use.