A £12M scheme to breathe new life into the heart of a former coal mining community has won two major awards.

The Seaham Regeneration Scheme was one of the flagship projects of the East Durham Task Force's Programme for Action. The multi-agency blueprint was drawn up more than ten years ago to address the closure of local collieries.

The scheme has been funded jointly by the regional development agency, One NorthEast, Durham County Council, the Easington District Council, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the European Regional Development Fund.

Its main aims were to reclaim and redevelop the former colliery and other contaminated sites, provide better access to the town, encourage new industry, create new jobs and improve the environment.

Work began on site in September 2000 and was completed in April of last year.

The scheme has now won an Objective 2 Award for Excellence in the Use of European Funding and one of three top accolades in the 2004 Institution of Civil Engineers Robert Stephenson Awards. The Seaham scheme was the outright winner in the construction category.

Work included the reclamation of more than 13 hectares of derelict and highly contaminated land which had previously been the site of chemical, gas and bottleworks. A 1.35km road and promenade was also built.

Durham County Council's deputy chief executive (environment) Chris Tunstall said: "The Seaham Regeneration Scheme has been a complex and demanding project, which has called for imaginative solutions to difficult problems.

"It has involved a package of works which have changed the shape and, hopefully, the fortunes of the town, with new industry to the south, new housing to the north and the possibility of an improved town centre with new retail, office, housing and tourism developments.''