One of the region's biggest employers is set to open its new £6.9 million headquarters in Bradford.

Yorkshire Water staff will move into the firm's ground-breaking building later this month after workmen put the finishing touches to the project.

The complex, at the firm's existing Buttershaw site, has been designed to include a range of unusual energy-saving features including automatic windows and solar shading.

The 17,500 sq ft three storey building, named Midway, features large open plan offices and will house 400 of the firm's staff. It will even include its own fitness centre with a sauna, gym, a range of machines and a cafe offering healthy snacks.

Dave Rigby, regional managing partner of international consultants EC Harris, said Yorkshire Water had been keen to ensure the building was as environmentally-friendly as possible.

"Yorkshire Water is unusual as a company in designing its new office with such a high regard to energy conservation," he said.

"The Midway building includes automatic-opening window vents - you can set the temperature and the ventilation will adjust using strategically placed censors.

"There's automatic lighting, which can detect people in any area and at any workstation. And to keep the office cool in the summer, solar shading has been created on the south side, with the exterior insulated by special tiles."

Yorkshire Water facilities manager Tony Paul said the development would see the closure of the firm's remaining offices at Broadacre House in Bradford city centre.

"This move completes a large part of YW's accommodation strategy, which was started in 1995," he said. "The whole essence of the move is to create a better working environment.

"If we want to get the best people to work for the company and retain them, we have to provide things like this."

The building was designed by Sheffield-based HLM Architects and built by Miller Construction.