Blake heaven

10:45am Thursday 22nd May 2008

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A SHOPPING and residential development in the heart of York has been shortlisted for a "property Oscar."

Blake Mews, just off Blake Street, is in the running for the 2008 Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Pro Yorkshire Awards, intended to celebrate the very best in the region's built and natural environments.

It is in a shortlist of six properties in the residential category, with the winner due to be announced tomorrow night at a prestigious ceremony at Leeds Town Hall.

An awards spokesman said that Blake Mews was a mixed-use development in the heart of York, designed by DSP Architects.

"The listed building has been given a new lease of life, providing ground-floor shops, apartments and town houses."

He said there were eight award categories in total - building conservation, regeneration, sustainability, community benefit, commercial, residential, tourism and leisure and innovation and design - and the ultimate award of Project Of The Year 2008 will be chosen from the eight winners.

The YHA's new youth hostel at Whitby has been nominated for two awards - building conservation and tourism and leisure.

Kevin Wood, chairman of the judges, said: "This is the seventh year we have run the awards and once again we have seen some great projects, with Yorkshire and Humber receiving the second highest number of entries in the country.

"The diversity and quality of the shortlisted projects is impressive and clearly reflects the variety of excellent schemes currently under way in the region.

"The awards also serve to highlight the vital role chartered surveyors and other skilled specialists play in our society. We should remember that behind every successful development there is a team of highly talented and trained individuals."

The judging panel comprises of a mixture of property professionals from various disciplines and backgrounds across Yorkshire & Humber.

The winning entries in four of the categories - building conservation, community benefit, regeneration and sustainability - automatically go through to the international RICS Awards, which will be held in October, to compete against some of the best projects in the world.