Birmingham Paradise development: Watch a YEAR of demolition at Central Library in just 90 seconds

• WARNING: Video contains sudden contrasting patterns of light and dark

The £500 million development kicked off with a major demolition programme in the hands of Wolverhampton-based Carillion, which is the contractor for the demolition, infrastructure and enabling works.

Completing the first phase of demolition opened up stunning new views of some of the city's finest civic buildings, including the Town Hall and Council House, as the old Central Library disappeared

And in the summer work began on the foundations of the first two landmark office buildings, One and Two Chamberlain Square.

Approximately 200 piles, between 90cm and 120cm in diameter, were drilled up to 20 metres into the ground.

These will support the weight of the new buildings which, when fully constructed, will form the first phase of the Paradise development.

Initially, the piles were focused on the core area of One Chamberlain Square, then progressing through the whole footprint of One and Two Chamberlain Square. A rig weighing around 100 tons has been be used to carry out the work, which will continue for the next few months.

Professional services giant Pricewaterhouse Coopers has agreed to take the top four-and-a-half floors of One Chamberlain Square.

The final month of the year saw a major construction milestone as the first part of the core for One Chamberlain Square was assembled from pre-cast concrete sections.

This is one of the first visual markers, transforming the Paradise site from a demolition site to a construction site, and giving the first sense of scale to Paradise.

Developer Argent says Chamberlain Square will be lined with new restaurants, bars and shops along with trees and attractive public leisure space as part of the wider Paradise project. The aim is that the new buildings will complement the existing civic buildings– the Town Hall, Council House and the Museum and Art Gallery – and two new pedestrianised streets will also be created; Centenary Way and Congreve Street.

One Chamberlain Square is due to be completed in the autumn of 2018. Work on the public areas of the square will be carried out at the same time and the second speculative office building, Two Chamberlain Square designed by Birmingham's Glenn Howells Architects, will be completed in early 2019.

The images are part of time-lapse footage showing the development work which has taken place at Paradise over the last year.