Wem Town hall transformation scoops top award

A town hall which was gutted by fire more than 15 years ago has won a top international architecture award after it was transformed into an arts, learning, community and enterprise centre.

Bosses at Wem Town Hall are celebrating after it was confirmed as one of 52 winning projects in the Civic Trust Awards 2012.

More than 300 global projects from places like Haiti, Iceland, Russia, Denmark and Spain were also in the running.

Architects Baart Harries Newall, who worked on Wem Town Hall, entered the project for the awards.

Judges named the hall as one of seven projects to win a community recognition award for the way it gave a positive social, cultural, environmental and economic benefit to the local community.

The town hall, in High Street, was virtually destroyed when fire ripped through the building in 1995, but in 2010 it re-opened in its new guise.

Paul Roberts, Wem Town Hall manager, said: "We're over the moon and it's really gratifying because everyone has been working so hard to make Wem Town Hall a success.

"We've been really well supported by members of the community who wanted to see the new Wem Town Hall working out.

"Awards like this show we are doing the right thing and making progress."

He added that the Civic Trust Awards judges were impressed by the changes made to the building so it could become a multi-use space.

Councillor Edward Towers, mayor of Wem, said he was proud that one of the town's best known buildings had gained international recognition.

Neil Hemming, chairman of the Wem Town Hall Community Trust, said: "The reopening of Wem Town Hall could not have happened without the ideas, energy and commitment of local people, so we are rightly very proud of the national recognition that this award brings."