ALL Souls’ Bolton is in the running for a number of property accolades — including a coveted “project of the year” title.

The Halliwell church has made it on to the shortlist of the 2015 RICS North West Awards, which are regarded as the region’s property “Oscars”.

The grade II listed church , in Astley Street, has been shortlisted in four of the award categories: design through innovation, regeneration, community benefit and building conservation.

Aside from its religious purpose, the historic church — originally built in 1881 — served as a community hub, a cornerstone of local activity for more than 100 years.

However, after closing in 1986, it was vandalised and broken into by thieves.

Now the Churches Conservation Trust (CCT), working with the local community, has enabled the church to undergo a complete transformation.

The £3 million project involved constructing a new community facility inside the church building, and adding spaces beneficial to the local community, including contemporary workspace and business units, a café and state-of-the-art conference facilities.

At the same time, an extensive historic repair project took place, which included the complete re-roofing of the church, the repair and replacement of more than 50 percent of the leaded windows and comprehensive masonry repairs.

The reopening in December marked the end of a 10-year campaign by the chairman of All Souls, Inayat Omarji, to bring the facility back to life.

Last year Mr Omarji received the English Heritage Angel Award for “the best rescue of any other type of historic building or site”.

Salford-based architects OMI were behind the ambitious redesign, with architect Nick Berry in charge of the project.

Mr Omarji said: “The project being shortlisted recognises the architects’ fantastic designs and the complexities of working within a grade II listed building.

“There was quite a lot of deep thinking in the process of coming up with the design and the pods.

“There is a story in terms of how the pods and the walkways align themselves with the terraced houses in the streets outside.”

The awards, which will be hosted by ITV weather presenter Emma Jesson, will be held at the The Monastery on Thursday, April 30.

Will Rees, from Rees Straw Chartered Surveyors, who is chairing the judging panel, said: “The ongoing challenging market conditions have stalled or delayed many projects from completing in the region, so the fact that we have a shortlist of 45 built schemes – many of which are of an exceptional standard – is extremely encouraging.”