IN PICTURES: Wait almost over for swanky £8.1m Wolverhampton offices

Glass windows are being installed on the building, a major office and retail development being built close to the city's bus and railway stations.

And today, regeneration boss councillor Peter Bilson hailed the progress being made on the 'crucial' development, which forms part of the wider £139 million Interchange project.

Councillor Bilson, said: "We are very pleased with the progress.

"The quality of the work is very good and we are looking forward to it operating as a new commercial business with family pub food and other outlets.

"It will be a good enhancement to that part of the city centre and will be a landmark building as people arrive in our city via the railway.

"It is quite a crucial development and one that we look forward to seeing open with all of its occupants in place."

The city council is investing a total of £10.6m in the Interchange scheme.

Councillor Bilson added: "We took the initiative of investing in this scheme as a council.

"We thought it was crucial to show our belief in the city by pump-priming the development in this part of the city.

"We had already had this first phase of this development and we wanted to make sure that investors and developers saw the winder opportunities in that part of the city centre."

Councillor Bilson said almost all of the ground floor of the property had been pre-let. However, he could not yet confirm which businesses had signed up to the scheme.

A Hungry Horse pub was announced as the first tenant. It will be based on the ground floor of the new building and will create 50 full and part-time jobs.

The first phase of the Interchange programme, which saw the new bus station, access improvements to the railway station, the creation of the Victoria Square and the refurbishment of the Queens Building was completed in 2012.

Planners gave Interchange 10 the go-ahead in March last year.

The bus station was opened in 2011 at a cost of £22.5m, and a redevelopment of the railway station is also planned as part of the Interchange master plan with an expected cost of £40m. The railway station upgrade would include extending the existing Metro line to the new station, and refurbishing and extending the existing multi-storey car park.

Balfour Beatty is building the unit, working with Neptune Developers. Construction is due to be completed by the end of November 2015.

The wider Interchange scheme, led by the city council in partnership with Neptune, Centro, Network Rail, Virgin Trains and the Canal and River Trust, will create more than 1,000 jobs and is aimed at rejuvenating the city's transport infrastructure and local retail and leisure facilities.

The Interchange scheme is one of a number of regeneration projects taking place in the city.