The historic Hippodrome Cinema in Bo'ness has been honoured in a top awards ceremony.

Scotland's first purpose-built picture palace - re-opened a year ago this month after a £2.1 million revamp - was commended in the Scottish Civic Trust My Place Awards.

The announcement was made at a ceremony in Glasgow yesterday. The overall winner was the restoration of Castlemilk Stables in Glasgow.

The My Place Awards - supported by the Scottish Government - aims to celebrate thriving architectural design successes that contribute to "making local places better".

The Hippodrome is owned by a charity, the Scottish Historic Buildings Trust (SHBT), and operated by Falkirk Council. It now shows a range of movies as well as linked talks and special events.

Councillor Adrian Mahoney, the convener of leisure, tourism and community at Falkirk Council, said: "We were pleased to see the Hippodrome honoured in this prestigious competition. The building was up against 15 other shortlisted entries from all over Scotland, which were all of a high standard.


"This commendation recognises the impact the Hippodrome has made to the regeneration taking place in Bo'ness - and the building's importance to the people of the local area and beyond.

"It was particularly nice that the Culture Minister, Fiona Hyslop, made special mention of the Hippodrome as she announced the overall winner. I'd like to thank her for her kind comments."

The Civic Trust, through its website, said the Awards aimed to celebrate quality developments.

It said: "In this, its first year, a Scottish Civic Trust My Place Award will be made to a winning project that contributes positively to local place-making. It may be a new building or a conservation project or an improvement scheme for a public space or park.

"The award is not intended to be for 'professional merit', with architects or developers seeking accolades for their own projects. Instead, projects will be nominated by local civic groups and they will then be assessed on their architectural, heritage and/or place making benefits.

"The aim is to identify and commend recently completed projects and buildings that have a positive impact in a local neighbourhood and have delivered positive benefits to that local community."

(GK/BMcC)