Watch the dramatic moment a multi-storey car park is turned into dust in Wakefield

Gone: Rishworth Street multi-storey car park was demolishedduring a controlled explosion on Sunday morning

It was built in 1971 and Wakefield Council closed the city centre car park on July 15 for work to start.

A vets building was also demolished as part of the work.

Buildings and homes around the site were emptied and roads were closed during the explosion as a safety cordon was put in place.

Speaking earlier this year, Denise Jeffery, Wakefield Council’s deputy council leader, said: “The car park has reached the end of its lifespan and by demolishing it we hope it will help attract developers who are interested in investing in this part of the city.

“The multi-storey car park will be replaced within 12 weeks with a surface level long-stay car park, which will remain until a developer is found for the wider area."

Coun Jeffery said: “We hope that by demolishing the car park and the current vets building that we can make the area an attractive prospect to potential developers interested in providing a quality hotel in the city centre.”

The works were funded by a £1.1m grant from the Leeds City Region.

Neil Rodgers, the council’s service director for highways, said: “The primary reason for this decision is that a grant was made available which enabled us to demolish the car park and create land suitable for redevelopment, supporting the regeneration needs of the Civic Quarter.

In 2009, the structural safety of the multi-storey was questioned after water seeped into the 1970s concrete structure.

The condition of 388-space car park had deteriorated after Wakefield Council failed to properly maintain it, a structural survey found.

Repairs were carried out and a further survey found the structure of the car park was safe, Wakefield Council said at the time.

Mr Rodgers added: “At some point in the future, Rishworth Street car park wold have needed significant investment if we were to refurbish it and at this point neither the grant, nor the funding, would be available.

“We need to seize the opportunity to achieve the very best for the future of our city centre.”