Architect Will Allsop's vision for Bradford city centre took a major step forward today as consultants were commissioned to put the flesh on its bones.

Bradford Centre Regeneration - the company set up to breathe new life into the city - went out to tender and chose Ove Arup from a line-up of top contenders.

The Leeds-based international consultants will work out how to turn radical proposals, including a new canal, into reality and put the framework in place for work to start.

Today Ove Arup associate Michael Osborne said: "It is an exciting masterplan and we are looking at the details.

"We will be speaking to land owners and consulting. The plan is visionary but there is a lot of in-depth thinking in it and there is no reason why it cannot happen."

Among the first areas in the plan to be fleshed out is The Markets - the current shopping area bounded to the east by Manor Row and Cheapside, to the south by Hustlergate, Tyrrel Street and Aldermanbury, to the west by Godwin Street and Sunbridge Road and to the north by Darfield Street and Drewton Street.

Another is The Channel, bounded on the South by Leeds Road, to the east by Shipley Airedale Road, to the north by Hamm Strasse and west by Cheapside and Forster Square station. The area Bradford Cathedral and Little Germany.

Will Allsop's masterplan - currently on display in New York - hit headlines across the world when it was unveiled just over a year ago.

It sees the city set in an urban park with City Hall surrounded by a lake. There is an iconic bridge of learning and wet land environment area.

Proposals for the Channel include a new Bradford canal and 360 new homes.

Mr Osborne said they would consider where the canal might appear and the position of the locks and public square.

Ove Arup's work will include a detailed programme setting out how the plan's vision will be delivered over five to ten years.

Bradford Council's head of plans and performance, Christopher Hughes, said: "These frameworks are an important step in planning and delivering the high quality city centre of the master plan, which is a key part of the district's further success."

Bradford Centre Regeneration's director of operations, Marc Cole, said: "Commissioning these neighbourhood development frameworks marks another major milestone on the city centre's regeneration roadmap."

Arup has already handled the Airedale masterplan and a preliminary study for Bradford Centre Regeneration on the new canal.

The work is expected to be completed by summer and BCR will go out to tender for a consultant to create frameworks for the other neighbourhoods in the masterplan - The Bowl and The Valley - in the next three months.