Timelapse video: How they transformed Bradford’s hole in the ground

The £260 million development will open on Thursday 5 November - more than 11 years after work began on clearing the site when the first buildings in the city centre were demolished.

The 570,000 sq ft centre is expected to create 2,500 new retail jobs.

The development was mothballed in 2008 by the Australian retail giant Westfield amid the credit crunch and subsequent recession.

At the time Westfield said it had already spent £80m on the Broadway site and was committed to its future.

In 2010 part of the site was used as an urban garden by Bradford Council. The site became known as the city’s “hole in the ground” and frustration over the lack of progress culminated in a protest group occupying it in the summer of 2012.

However building work began in early 2014 and the centre’s two largest stores have now been handed over to anchor tenants Marks & Spencer and Debenhams for their interior fit-outs. The two retail giants were the first to sign up to the revised scheme.

On completion, The Broadway will be owned by a fund advised by Meyer Bergman and two major Canadian pension funds, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan and AIMCo. Westfield will manage the property after centre opening.