A NORTHWICH school has proved itself to be at the forefront of national state-of-the-art building design.

Kingsmead Primary School was named a winner in the category which honours projects that have a particular cultural, social or economic benefit, at the Civic Trust Awards ceremony held on Thursday.

This accolade comes just a few weeks after the school was named Small Project of the Year at the Quality in Construction Awards.

Among the many innovative design and construction features of the school, which opened last year, are automatically controlled heating, lighting, ventilation and roof light shading, solar panels to provide heat, energy saving measures to reduce bills and cut emissions, rainwater recycling facilities to flush the toilets and winter gardens adjoining the classrooms for practical and science teaching.

Funded by £1.6million from Cheshire County Council, the school's innovative design also secured £200,000 from the Department of Education and Skills.

Ray Baker, Cheshire County Council's school development manager, said: "It has been quite an honour to collect these extremely prestigious awards."