Manor Property Group said the scheme would not be finished in time for Hull’s turn as the City of Culture in 2017.

Demolition work was delayed late last year when original specialist contractor Demolition Services Ltd left the job.

But Manor Property Group is keen to get the build underway now the site has been cleared by replacement contractors.

Director Philip Akrill told the Hull Daily Mail: “We would love to have opened it in time for the year of culture, but that is probably not feasible anymore.

“We were hoping to be on site last October if we had not had the trouble with our demolition contractors. We had to clear that up and it has delayed us a little.

“It is a multi-use, mixed-use development, and it is not easy to pull that together in a city the size of Hull.

“It is difficult, but we are completely funded, and what we need to do now is get it moving.”

Also earmarked for the site is a 23 storey residential tower, student homes, restaurants and a casino.

Akrill said: “We are waiting to go. We are signed up until quarter four of 2019.

“We are not going to have spent £700,000 knocking down a building to leave a piece of flat concrete in Hull.”