WIRRAL youth zone The Hive has been named the North West's best public service building.

The state-of-the-art hub was crowned with this title in the LABC Regional Building Excellence Awards 2018.

Open to building control surveyors, builders and designers, the awards give recognition to 'excellent' buildings, outstanding companies, partnerships and individuals who go the extra mile.

Judges looked for projects that demonstrated technical innovation and outstanding craftmanship.

As a regional winner, The Hive has now been automatically shortlisted for the LABC 'Grand Finals' which will take place in London later this year.

This is not the first time The Hive has been recognised for the quality of its eye-catching building, based in the centre of Birkenhead.

The Youth Zone also reached the finals of this year’s RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) Awards, North West after being nominated in the Community Benefit category.

Located in Birkenhead and part of the Onside Youth Zones network, The Hive has already had a positive impact on anti-social behaviour, which has been recognised by local shop-keepers and Merseyside Police.

After opening it's doors in April 2017, The Hive now caters to thousands of members aged between eight to 19 and up to 25 for those with disabilities.

With more than 80,000 visits from young people and The Hive has provided more than 2,000 hours of open access youth work.

Volunteers there have also given nearly 12,000 hours of their time to help deliver the facility's offering to youngsters.

Chief executive of The Hive Stuart Barnes said: “We know we have an outstanding facility here in terms of design, impact and accessibility but it is fantastic to receive the third-party endorsement that accolades such as the LABC Regional Building Excellence Awards provide.

"We are exceedingly grateful to the private and public sector organisations who worked together to deliver a first-class Youth Zone, for the benefit of thousands of young people in Wirral.”