Turner Prize: Liverpool’s Toxteth estate regeneration collective Assemble win prestigious art prize

The architectural design collective helped to renovate a rundown area of Liverpool

Members of Assemble, a collective of artists who work in the fields of art, design and architecture (AFP/Getty Images)

A project to regenerate part of a Liverpool estate has won the 2015 Turner prize.

Assemble - a collective of about 16 artists, architects and designers aged under 30 - clinched the prestigious £25,000 award for their work Granby Four Streets, that helped locals on the Toxteth estate transform their neighbourhood.

The London-based group were invited to help revive a patch of the south Liverpool neighbourhood "from the ground up" by residents fighting plans to demolish a number of houses in the area.

The group received the 31st Turner Prize at the Tramway arts venue in Glasgow alongside members of the Granby community. Collecting the cheque one of the collective said the project had been "really, really humbling."

They added: "I think it's safe to say this nomination was a surprise to all of us and the last six months has been a super-surreal experience, but it's allowed us this amazing opportunity to start something - Granby workshop - which we hope will live on for a very, very, very long time."

There are plans to sell a number of pieces including fire places, tables and chairs displayed as part of the exhibition to help fund the continuing project.

It beat three female nominees; Bonnie Camplin, Janice Kerbel and Nicole Wermers, who each walked away with a £5,000 consolation prize from the close-run competition.

British artist and lecturer Camplin created an interactive work, The Military Industrial Complex, that featured large TVs, books and a photocopier. Visitors were encouraged to make copies of books and explore themes of virtual reality, conspiracy and state control.

DOUG, a musical piece by London-based Canadian artist Kerbel, was nominated alongside German sculptor Wermer, whose installation Infrastruktur comprised a series of chairs with fur coats sewn on top.

It was the first time the often controversial contest, won last year by Duncan Campbell for his series of films called It For Others, has been held in Scotland.

Previous winners have included Martin Creed's light going on and off and Grayson Perry's pots tackling subjects like death and child abuse.

This year's winner was announced by artist and musician Kim Gordon during a ceremony broadcast live on Channel 4.

The founding member of US band Sonic Youth stumbled over her speech several times as she praised the short listed nominees, as well as mistakenly referring to the winners as "Assembly".

Press Association