The new £7.75 million museum and art gallery project in St Albans has been shortlisted for a top national award.

The town hall in St Peter’s Street is being transformed into a new museum and art gallery in a project led by St Albans City and District Council.

It is scheduled to open in spring next year and should become a major visitor attraction with the capacity to hold exhibitions of national importance.

The scheme has been named one of the finalists in the Project of the Year category at the APS National Construction Design and Management (CDM) Awards.

There are only six award categories, besides a student section, and only three other organisations have been shortlisted for Project of the Year.

The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony at the Gibson Hall in London on Thursday October 19.

Cllr Julian Daly, St Albans City and District Council’s portfolio holder for commercial and development, said: “The APS CDM Awards are well established and very highly regarded within the construction industry.

“It’s quite an accolade for a local authority to be shortlisted for Project of the Year alongside some of the UK’s leading architectural, surveying and engineering consultancies. Hopefully we will go on and win the top prize.

“Our shortlisting is recognition of the high-quality nature of this project. We have paid great attention to every detail and that includes achieving the highest possible health and safety standards so the public, our staff and our contractors have not been put at risk during the building work.”