Purcell Miller Tritton has won the RICS East Midlands Project of the Year award for its work on the restoration of Wollaton Hall in Nottingham, one of the finest Tudor houses in the country and the base for the city council’s Natural History Museum.

Heritage bodies have united to urge Government to use its proposed statement on the historic environment to encourage local authorities not to cut historic environment services. A new report into local authority conservation and archaeology resources in England has revealed a recent drop in staff levels that could, heritage bodies claim, lead to a future crisis.

One of the country’s last remaining Church of England retreat houses is launching a public appeal in a desperate bid to raise the £1m it needs for essential renovation work. If the money cannot be raised by the beginning of September the doors of Launde Abbey, which welcome in around 20,000 people a year, will be forced to close for good.

Wooden sash windows at a historic 17th-century mansion in Warwickshire have been saved and restored, because it proved more cost-effective than replacing them.

Two architectural practices with track records in the ecclesiastical and heritage sectors have merged to form a new firm. PEP Architects Ltd and the Peter Bradford Partnership – both based in Tring, Hertfordshire – have come together to form Thompson Bradford Architects Ltd.