A MEDIEVAL barn in Nailsea, which has undergone a £1.2 million refurbishment, has won a top conservation award.

The Tithe Barn has won the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) People's Choice award.

RIBA asked people across the South West to vote for their favourite new building project, with the 15th century Tithe Barn beating the competition to take the main prize.

The competition is in its fourth year and the shortlist represented a broad selection of publicly accessible buildings across the South West.

RIBA South West Town And Country Design Awards look at the impact of new and converted built environment projects in both rural and urban settings.

The restoration project was carried out by Illminster-based contractors W Coombes and Son and architect George Tasker, of Architecton who has a room at the barn named after him.

Nailsea Town Council clerk, Ian Morrell, said: "We are absolutely delighted the hard work and dedication put into this project has been recognised with the support of the public.

"We were confident that the work had been carried out to a high standards but this is great news that this has been officially recognised."

Work started on a restoration of the Grade II * listed Tithe Barn at Church Lane in April 2010 and took a year to complete.

The project to save the barn from closure or redevelopment into residential properties began in the late 1990s and has come to fruition following a long campaign of fundraising by the Tithe Barn Trust and Nailsea Town Council.

The barn is one of the oldest buildings in Nailsea, dating back to the late 15th century, and will now be used as a venue for community events, activities and celebrations.

Work on the barn, which over the years has fallen into a state of disrepair, has seen three new meeting rooms created.

The hidden oak roof has been restored and opened up and become an integral feature of the ancient building.

The project been funded by a £500,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Nailsea Town Council – which is now based at the barn – earmarked £150,000 and raised a further £320,000 by selling off its current headquarters at Silver Street to Nailsea Baptist Church.

Cash also came from Holy Trinity Church and the trustees held a number of successful fundraising events – including a Sponsor a Beam drive – to bolster the coffers.

The historic building was used as a tithe barn until the late 1700s and in 1792 opened as Hannah More School.

It continued operate as a school until the 1970s when North Somerset Council took it over and used it as a day centre.

In the late 1990s the authority closed the day centre and announced plans to knock down the building and build flats on the site.

But the news caused outcry among the local community who fought for Nailsea Town Council to take over the building from the authority on a 125-year lease.

Since then, the barn has been used by a number of community groups and the congregation of neighbouring Holy Trinity Church.

Any inquiries about the barn and hiring the facilities can be made on 01275 855277.