JUDGES have inspected one of the region's most important Grade I-listed buildings on behalf of Prince Charles.

The 326-year-old Sir William Turner Almshouses at Kirkleatham, near Redcar, have been nominated for a Prince of Wales National Almshouse Association Award. The building has recently been renovated and 25 flats and cottages created in a £1.7m project.

A team of advisors from the association spent two hours examining the almshouses. Peter Sotheran, spokesman for the almshouses' governing committee, said: "A spokesman told me that Prince Charles regards our almshouses as being among the top four or five in the country for the quality of its architecture and heritage.

"The advisers were particularly interested in how we managed to maintain almshouses at one side of the site while building went on at the other."