EFFORTS to renovate one of Darwen's most familiar buildings has won recognition in a major awards scheme.

The scheme to convert India Mill into light engineering and office space have been given a mention in this year's Civic Trust Awards, one of only 43 in the country.

It has been given the award for what the trust said is the use of the mill's robust exterior while completely changing the inside.

The mill, whose 303ft chimney dominates the skyline of Darwen, has been transformed by a multi-million pound project into three separate areas of small business units, large business units and a retail/leisure development.

Work started in 1994 and took about three years to do.

The owners of the building, aviation firm Brookhouse, have moved their offices to the mill on Bolton Road.

The three stages of the project have each been a success. The India Mill Centre is for small businesses units of up to 1,700sq ft.

The Galleries features units up to 30,000 sq ft and The Courtyard is the retail/leisure part of the scheme.

Each section has seen massive interest and a number of companies have set up there, bringing much needed jobs to the area.

The former cotton mill was lying derelict until 1993 when it was taken over.

Civic Trust judges visited the site and made an inspection. They said the project was in one of the areas they had highlighted, urban regeneration. The judges commented: "This sensitive conservation and conversion is a good example of the kind of projects we have highlighted, it re-uses a redundant industrial building in the heart of a town that has experienced some economic and employment problems."

John Fryer, manager of the India Mill Centre and Brookhouse Managed Properties said: "We were nominated for the award last year and were informed that our application was successful by the Civic Trust in February.

"But we did not know to what level.

"This is a very exciting time for us, we are just about to start the next phase of the project which will see the fourth floor renovated."

"At the moment it is a shell but work will start on converting the space into office units. We currently have a few interested parties.

He added: "There are 12 companies in India Mill including Brookhouse and most have come from outside Darwen so we have brought jobs to the area.

"When we saw the mill in 1993 we were operating from five separate sites in the area and we wanted to consolidate under one roof. We did not know it would be so successful."

Barry Turner, joint managing director of Brookhouse Holdings said the group were extremely proud to see their efforts acknowledged.