THE University of Liverpool’s Engineering Restructuring Project is one of 13 Merseyside buildings battling it out to be crowned the region’s “Project of the Year”.

A total of 49 buildings from across the North West have been shortlisted into eight categories for the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors North West Awards 2010.

Other Merseyside nominees include The Bluecoat, Arnot St Mary Church of England Primary School and Surestart Children's Centre, Walton- on-the-Hill and the U-Boat Story, Birkenhead.

The building projects will go head to head on Thursday during a ceremony being held at The Monastery, in Manchester.

In their seventh year, the awards are known as the region’s property “Oscars”, and this year feature buildings and property schemes that span the region.

Nominations range from small-scale schemes built by the vision and persistence of one person, through to multi-million pound developments. There are eight category awards up for grabs, each recognising inspirational initiatives and developments in land, property, construction and the environment.

The categories are Building Conservation, Regeneration, Community Benefit, Sustainability, Design & Innovation, Commercial, Residential, and Tourism & Leisure.

Then there is the prestigious “Project of the Year” accolade.

The coveted prize is awarded to the entry judged to have scored the highest across all categories.

Chairman of the regional judging panel, Andrew Kellaway, said: “We were delighted to see such a high number of entries pour in for the awards and once again the tremendous variety and high standard of projects far exceeded our expectations. So the short-listing process has been long and tough.”

The other Merseyside buildings nominated include: Innovation Centre 2, One Derby Square, Tithebarn House, Woolton High School, Dorrington Gardens, Elysian Fields, Liverpool Cruise Liner Facility, Hope Street Hotel and Crosby Lakeside Adventure Centre.