The Liverpool Daily Post and Echo's new £10.5m reception, The City Exchange, has been hailed the city's best new building at an architectural awards ceremony.

The atrium scooped the top award and was also highly commended in the public and private collaboration category.

The futuristic reception area in Old Hall Street is a joint project between the papers and its neighbours Royal & SunAlliance, as well as Merryfield Properties, Liverpool council and English Partnerships.

Facilities in the reception include a 'meeter and greeter' to help visitors, on-screen bulletins from the Echo's Channel One TV station and access to internet screens carrying the latest news on the papers' icLiverpool site.

More than 400 guests attended the Liverpool Architectural and Design Trust Awards in the Crypt of the Metropolitan Cathedral.

The Echo's Stop the Rot campaign to save the city's heritage was also praised at the awards.

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