It is not one winner of the Turner Prize this year – it is more than a dozen.

The artist collective Assemble, which builds buildings rather than paints pictures, has won the 2015 Turner Prize for contemporary art.

Assemble is a multi-disciplinary collective working across architecture, design and art and was short listed for a series of projects, including working with the residents of Granby Four Streets, in Liverpool.

The 18-strong artist collective was short listed for the prize with Bonnie Camplin, Janice Kerbel and Nicole Wermers.

It is the first time a group of artists has won the famous – and sometimes controversial – prize.

The London-based collective of architects, artists and designers work predominantly in communities rather than traditional galleries or museums.

Assemble’s nomination came because of their work in Toxteth, Liverpool, where they helped revamp ten condemned terraced houses as affordable homes.

Assemble was formed five years ago “by accident” by a group of friends – some training as architects who wanted to work on a project in their spare time.

Their first project was a transformation of a disused petrol station in London into a pop-up cinema.

This year the prize, which has been very successful for Scottish or Scotland-based artists in the last twenty years, is being staged in Glasgow for the first time at the Tramway venue.

The winners, announced by musician and writer Kim Gordon, best known for her time as bassist in Sonic Youth, get a cheque for £25,000.

Being on the short list comes with a prize of £5000.

For the first time, the exhibition which accompanies the prize is in Scotland, at Tramway.

Assemble came to the judges attention partially for a work they created in the east end of Glasgow.

It was involved in the creation of the Baltic Street Adventure Playground, a new playground and organisation at 427 Baltic Street, Dalmarnock, in the east of Glasgow.

Funded as a public art commission for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the project was “initiated as an immediate, practical response to the challenges facing a group of children growing up in a relatively scarce urban environment where around 54% of children live below the poverty line.”

It is described as “supervised child-led space offering free open-access play, caring adults, daily campfire food and warm and waterproof clothes to children from 6 to 12 years of age.”

Artists from or trained in Scotland have done remarkably well in the prize, as have graduates of the Glasgow School of Art.

Douglas Gordon, from Glasgow, kicked it off Scottish success by winning in 1996.

In 2001, Martin Creed, who was raised in Lenzie, won it for his ‘Work No 227: The Lights Going On and Off’.

Simon Starling, who studied at the Glasgow School of Art, won in 2005.

Richard Wright, who studied and lives and works in Glasgow, won in 2009.

Susan Philipsz, from Glasgow, who attended Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, won in 2010 with the first purely work made from sound.

Martin Boyce, another Scot trained in Glasgow, won in 2011.

Duncan Campbell, another MFA from the Glasgow School of Art who is based in Glasgow, won in 2014.

Several Scottish or Scottish trained or based artists have been shortlisted for the prize, too, including Nathan Coley, David Shrigley, Luke Fowler, Karla Black, Lucy Skaer, Jim Lambie and Christine Borland.

Bonnie Camplin is an artist, who was born in London in 1970 and lives and works in London. She works with film, drawing, performance, music and writing. She was nominated for her work, The Military Industrial Complex.

Nicole Wermers was born in Germany in 1971 and lives and works in London. She was shortlisted for her sculpture show, Infrastruktur.

Janice Kerbel was born in Canada in 1969 and lives and works in London.

She has been short listed for her operatic work Doug, which was commissioned by the Common Guild gallery of Glasgow.

Doug was first performed in the Mitchell Library in Glasgow in 2014 and The Common Guild is a leading arts company in the city.

This year the judges were Alistair Hudson, director, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Kyla McDonald, artistic director of Glasgow Sculpture Studios, Joanna Mytkowska, director of Museum Sztuki Nowoczesnej, Jan Verwoert, critic and curator, and were chaired by Alex Farquharson, director of Tate Britain.

Alice Edgerley of Assemble said: “We are really, really pleased. We are still involved in the Glasgow project. We’d like to thank everyone involved in our projects, our friends and families.  it’s particularly meaningful to be here in Glasgow where we worked on the Baltic street playground.’

Joseph Halligan of the group said ‘it depends who you ask’ whether Assemble consider themselves to be artists. He said each member has their own skills and roles. He said: “I am slightly overwhelmed. I am very happy because this will be really good for our project in Liverpool and good for the playground too.

“It is great that anyone can consider themselves to be an artist. It is a wonderful thing.”