Civic Voice Design Awards study tours taken to leading example of collaborative design, All Souls

Civic Voice, the national charity for the civic movement, is hosting a series of study tours at Civic Voice Design Award winning schemes. The tours offer the chance to visit winning schemes, hear from the people who led the projects to transform these buildings and spaces, and explore how great design can bring real benefit to local people.

All Souls, Bolton, a much celebrated restoration of a historic church for community use, won the 2015 Civic Voice Design Award in the Building Restoration category and is the first of this year’s series of tours. The project was praised by judges for its inspirational community story and for its ambitious and innovative design. The judges felt that this was a truly inspirational project that showed how buildings can be re-imagined to serve local community needs while celebrating the building's heritage.

The Civic Voice Design Awards plaque, which was awarded to All Souls in 2015 at an awards ceremony in London will also be unveiled at the event by Joan Humble, Civic Voice chair.

Joan Humble said, “I am delighted that we are hosting the first Civic Voice Design Awards study tour at All Souls church. All Souls is a fantastic example of how communities can come together with developers to create something really special that is treasured by all.”

Joan added “The Civic Voice Design Awards 2017 is open until February 14th for nominations and we want more projects like All Souls submitted this year.”

The study tour is being hosted by All Souls and the Churches Conservation Trust, which led the restoration and renovation of the building. They will share their experiences of transforming the building, and explain about the difference it has made in the community.

National charity The Glass-House Community Led Design, whose chief executive, Sophia de Sousa is one of the Design Awards judges, will also host a workshop session specially developed to help participants explore their relationship with the design of the places and spaces around us.


Notes for editors

About Civic Voice Design Awards
If you would like to learn more about the Civic Voice Design Awards please click here.

About Civic Voice
Civic Voice is the national charity for the civic movement in England. Our mission is to develop a society where everyone can say “I care about where I live”. We promote civic pride through our network of over 75,000 individual members.

About The Churches Conservation Trust
The Churches Conservation Trust (CCT) is the national charity protecting historic churches at risk. We’ve saved 350 beautiful buildings, which attract almost 2 million visitors a year.

Established under Ecclesiastical Law on 1 April 1969 the charity receives its churches in the form of ‘vestings’ from the Church Commissioners. All CCT’s churches remain consecrated and used for occasional worship.

The CCT works with local people to bring historic churches back into the heart of the community and use as a social, tourism, educational or cultural resource. The CCT’s care of Grade I and II* buildings has given it an international reputation in heritage conservation and regeneration.

Chair of the Trust is Peter Ainsworth, who was appointed in 2016. Crispin Truman is Chief Executive.

Contact
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Phone: 0151 707 4319
Website: http://www.civicvoice.org.uk
Address: Civic Voice, 60 Duke Street, Liverpool, L1 5AA