The firm will demolish the brutalist building – dubbed the city’s ugliest – under a contract worth £2.76m.

The works will include the decommissioning, soft strip and demolition of the tower blocks connected by a glass walkway, as well as a three-storey red brick plinth building to the east of the site.

Following the completion of the demolition works a simple landscaping scheme is to be implemented to allow pedestrian access.

The long-awaited City Centre South scheme is central to the city council’s ambitions to create the second biggest-shopping destination in the West Midlands.

The City Centre South shopping complex plan gained planning in 2012 but has failed to get off the drawing board because of the high street slowdown

But progress has been dogged by a failure to attract a flagship shopping store for the scheme.

The scheme around Bull Yard, Shelton Square, City Arcade and Hertford Street also includes plans for hotel and leisure facilities.

The council is now looking at other ways to bring the retail area forward and will need to submit fresh plans because existing planning has expired.