A landmark Bradford office block is being used to pilot a way of letting business space.

The city is the first to set up a business condominium which gives firms a chance to own floor space in multi-storey buildings instead of renting.

Multi-national property company Arrowcroft is developing a condominium for Wardley House on Little Horton Lane - named after city engineer and surveyor Stanley Wardley who helped change the face of Bradford in the 1960s.

The new idea is commonplace in Hong Kong and parts of the United States but because of the traditional British system of renting business property it has never been tried in the UK.

Wardley House has nine floors of space on offer which would normally be available for rent at about £6 a sq ft. But Simon Dixon, of Bradford-based Eddison's Commercial, said the new system of operating meant that the floorspace would go for less than £3 per sq ft if it was put up for rent.

He said the floorspace could be used for offices or hi-tech equipment production and when the businesses who took it up had finished with it they could sell it on.

Nicholas Hai, chief executive of Arrowcroft, said today: "Wardley House offers a unique investment opportunity.''

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