A NEW £2m church headquarters has won a prestigious architectural award, just days after it was officially opened.

Sue Snowdon, the Lord Lieutenant of County Durham, cut the ribbon on Cuthbert House, a new HQ for the Church of England’s Durham diocese, at Stonebridge, near Durham City, on Thursday (February 26).

Today (Monday, March 2), the office building has been named winner of the City of Durham Trust’s annual Architectural Award – along with the new £14 Durham Police HQ, at Aykley Heads.

Usually, the conservation group honours only one new building or restoration project each year, but this year chose to commend two.

The Trust said Cuthbert House, which is housing staff formerly based at Auckland Castle, was thoroughly respectful of its context within Durham’s Green Belt and Mrs Snowdon called it “amazing”.

“You can look out from here and see green all around you and light pours into this magnificent building.

“It has such potential and I think the City of Durham Trust Architectural Award is well deserved,” the Lord Lieutenant said.

Paul Butler, the Bishop of Durham, added: “Cuthbert House is a terrific new centre for the support of our work in the parishes and communities across the Diocese.

“Now being the recipient of the City of Durham Trust Architectural Award is the icing on the cake – I am thrilled.”

Durham Police moved into its long-awaited new HQ last summer, following a four-month delay due to the suspected presence of great crested newts that cost the taxpayer around £100,000.

The Trust said the three-storey building was a pavilion in style, classical in its formal structure.

Michelle March, the police’s head of estate, said it was delighted at the recognition.

“The building is remarkable in visual terms but also provides a flexible, efficient and environmentally friendly workplace suitable for the ever-changing requirements in modern policing,” she added.

A Trust spokesman said it was also looking forward to the relocation of a defunct radio mast designed by Sir Ove Arup, that had been threatened with demolition, from the old HQ into the new.

The City of Durham Trust will award the two plaques at its open meeting in the Elvet Riverside building, New Elvet, Durham, on Saturday, March 14, at 2.15pm.