The wraps could finally be coming off a controversial Bradford landmark building embroiled in a legal row between two giant corporations.

The prestige city centre office block has been shrouded in scaffolding and green netting for more than a year as the two huge firms did battle.

Holiday firm Thomas Cook, which occupies the £9 million Aldermanbury building in the city centre, has reached an out-of-Court settlement with Jarvis, the embattled engineering firm.

The two companies had been locked in a dispute over the quality of workmanship on the building which has been covered in scaffolding and green netting for more than a year.

It has become an eye sore in the heart of the city overlooking the new Centenary Square development.

Although the building is structurally safe, there were concerns about the way stone cladding was attached to it. The scaffolding and netting was put in place to allow a painstaking assessment of the building to take place.

Councillor Simon Cooke, Bradford Council's executive member for the economy, welcomed the news that the work would finally be carried out. He said: "I think they have been trying to break the world record for the longest time scaffolding has been up around a building! We do get a lot of comments about the site, although it has nothing to do with the Council, of course. I am delighted that they have come to an agreement and I hope that they can finish the work as quickly as possible.

"It is very important that a prime office space such as this is seen to be in good condition and occupied."

Thomas Cook issued legal proceedings against Jarvis - which was one of the main contractors involved on the construction of the building - and the dispute had been expected to be decided in the High Court.

But today Thomas Cook confirmed a settlement had been reached which the company was satisfied with. It said work on remedying the problems and eventually removing the scaffolding would now get underway within the next few weeks.

The work will include repointing, installing wall tiles across the whole facade of the building and other minor remedial work. It is expected to take around six months to complete.

The legal row has been just the latest headache for troubled Jarvis which has suffered a string of problems since being dumped from its rail maintenance contract following the Potters Bar rail disaster. The stricken company said this week that it was even considering changing its name following all the bad publicity.

The Aldermanbury building was the first multi-million pound speculative office development built in Bradford city centre.

It was originally part of an ambitious £200 million scheme to redevelop the whole of the West End of the city but the first developers, 3D, pulled out of the scheme with only the foundations completed.

It was later taken over by York-based company Huntington's and planning permission was granted for a scaled-down scheme.

The offices opened in 1998 and lay empty for several months before Thomas Cook decided to base its JMC tour operator business in the building. It has now reverted to the Thomas Cook name and the firm employs around 450 staff there, mainly in call centre-style roles.