BLACKBURN'S £5million new bus station has been nominated for a major architectural award.

The building, which was plagued with problems during construction, is one of 12 projects shortlisted by the Royal Institute of British Architects for its RIBA North West award.

The station is part of the £40million Pennine Reach public transport scheme to speed buses between Hyndburn, Blackburn and Darwen.

Opened in May last year, 16 moths later than originally scheduled, it was dogged by problems and its original main contractor had to be replaced in June 2015.

Now the structure, designed by Capita on behalf of Blackburn with Darwen Council, is now among a dozen new building is up for the award to be presented in May.

The winner will be then entered in the RIBA National Awards in June where the gold medallists will be considered for its main national Stirling Prize.

Cllr Phil Riley, the council's regeneration boss, said: "The eye-catching design of our innovative bus station reflects everything about the changing face of Blackburn.

"We were keen to re-think the look and feel of the tired and dated functional bus shelters which stood at the heart of our main gateway into town.

"Taking a bold and forward thinking approach has resulted in Blackburn having a world class, state-of-the-art designer bus station and it’s a great statement of our future intentions to be included on a short-list with some very illustrious buildings."

Also on the shortlist are Manchester City Football Club's new training academy, Finlay's Warehouse in Manchester, the refurbishments of the Liverpool's Philharmonic Hall and Royal Court Theatres, and Maggie's Centre at Manchester's Christie Hospital designed by Sir Norman Foster.

Ian Richardson, Capita’s partnership director for Blackburn with Darwen, said: "The Blackburn Bus Station needed to be both practical and safe for users of public transport as well as architecturally distinctive.

"As a result it was a technical and architectural challenge to design but the results speak for themselves.

"We’re obviously thrilled that RIBA has shortlisted the scheme amongst such strong competition."

A spokesman for the RIBA North West jury said: "These twelve shortlisted buildings, with differing functions, scales and budgets, are all memorable and each has achieved that unexpectedly special quality that makes them stand out as significant to the architecture of the North West."