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The renovation and regeneration of Birmingham’s Custard Factory has been honoured at the Urbanism Awards 2014.

The building was  praised for its "catalytic effect on the economic and cultural growth of Birmingham" and beat off competition from St Nicholas Market, Bristol, and Cathedral Square, Peterborough, to win the Great Place award.

It was one of only five awards given by the at the ceremony held at London's Connaught Rooms.

A series of riverside Victorian factories, the complex was originally built by Sir Alfred Bird, the inventor of instant custard.

However, they were set for demolition in the 1990s

Today the area sits in the heart of Birmingham’s creative quarter and is home to popular independent shops and cafés, a thriving music scene, public open spaces with distinctive artworks and a 2,000-strong community of businesses from small innovative digital start-ups to household names such as online retailer ASOS.

Mr Gray said: “We launched the Custard Factory against a backdrop of post-industrial urban decline, but we recognised the beauty of the buildings and their potential to appeal to Birmingham’s creative community.

"There was always a lot of vitality and potential in the city, but to reignite its culture and economy, it desperately needed somewhere for the people with big ideas to meet, work, collaborate, innovate, shop and generally make things happen.”