The £20m Friar Gate Square office development is scheduled to start this summer, according to developer Lowbridge.
And regeneration company Blueprint has announced that it also intends to start preliminary works on the £16m Sadler Square Scheme, in Bold Lane, this year.
Innes England, the agents appointed for Friar Gate Square, say that negotiations to sign up the first occupier for the development are at an advanced stage.
And it is planned that clearance and demolition work at the site, on the corner of Ford Street and Agard Street, is likely to take place in tandem with the £36.2m Connecting Derby scheme to complete the city's inner ring road.
Friar Gate Square could create as many as 700 jobs in the city.
Planning approval was granted for the 75,000 sq ft development last autumn on the condition that changes were made to the roofs of the buildings.
As part of the wider Friar Gate Square project, Lowbridge intends to renovate the historic Friar Gate Bridge as a new pedestrian link into the city.
The bridge has become run down since the closure of Friar Gate Station in the 1960s.
Nigel Kneale, on behalf of Lowbridge, said: "Friar Gate Square is a really exciting new development for Derby and particularly the historic west side of the city centre.
"These new office buildings will help to re-establish this historic quarter as the premier location for businesses in Derby.
"Derby is an ambitious, exciting and cosmopolitan city and we are delighted to be contributing towards [and] working with the city council on the much-needed restoration of Friar Gate bridge.
"We intend to start work on site during this year."
Blueprint is equally optimistic that work could begin on Sadler Square, on the former Princes Supermarket site in Bold Lane, during 2010 after seeing increased interest from potential tenants.
Marketing is under way to attract tenants and Blueprint says it is in discussions with Derby City Council, Marketing Derby, Derby Cityscape and East Midlands Development Agency to speed up development.
It is considering building the shops, office accommodation and apartments in two phases.
Blueprint development director Peter Connolly said: "We are starting to see signs of a slightly higher level of economic activity, with enquiries for pre-lets at Sadler Square increasing."
Article courtesy of Derby Telegraph