THE striking conversion of All Souls in Bolton HAS triumphed over 45 of the region’s most impressive new property schemes.

All Souls won four out of the eight awards last night at the RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) North West Awards, including project of the year.

The annual contest, held at The Monastery on Thursday April 30, celebrates inspirational initiatives in the property and construction sector.

Weather presenter Emma Jesson was host for this year’s glittering ceremony.

All Souls also won awards for building conservation, community benefit and design through innovation.

The project of the year title is presented to the scheme which demonstrates outstanding best practice and an exemplary commitment to adding value to its local area.

The project to conserve and regenerate All Souls has transformed a redundant Victorian Grade II listed church building — which had become subject to acts of vandalism and theft — in to a valued business and ‘space age’ community hub.

Poole Dick Associates, OMI Architects, Walter Carefoot & Sons and Lambert Walker all worked on the £4.9 million scheme, which now offers contemporary community facilities within the church building including modern workspace, business units, a café and state-of-the-art conference facilities.

Bolton College also works in partnership with the centre to deliver a range of adult learning courses.

Chair of the RICS North West Awards judging panel, Will Rees of Rees Straw Chartered Surveyors said: “This remarkable conversion has created a sustainable business and future for an important heritage asset that would otherwise be lost forever.

“The team behind the project utilised the very best principles in conservation to approach the repair works to the building, which involved the re-roofing of the church, the replacement of over 50 percent of the leaded windows and comprehensive masonry repairs.

“During the works, a number of trainee placements were also awarded to those eager to gain skills in masonry, glazing and roofing. The judges thought this was a great idea and hope that more firms will be inspired to follow suit to ensure we develop a sustainable workforce for the future of our heritage.”

Mr Rees added: “The standard of entries this year was phenomenal, so our panel had an extremely tough job selecting the shortlist, let alone the winners."

All Souls will now automatically be entered into the national RICS Awards later this year.