The project has been designed by Nightingale Associates, a leading architectural practice, which has stepped outside of their usual field of specialism (health, education and science buildings for the public sector), to be part of a project that is not only important to the Cathedral itself but also to the enrichment of Liverpool's architectural history.

Adrian Swain, senior director at Nightingale Associates Liverpool office, said: "We are delighted to have been shortlisted for such a prestigious award, and that the significance of this project has been recognised.

"The new design links a pavilion to the Cathedral with a glass corridor and entrance cut into the apse off of the main body of the Cathedral's Nave. The pavilion's position allows an understanding of the crypt's relationship to the Cathedral and which will now house information about the Cathedral's history and Lutyen's original design. A descent into the crypt space via stairs or lift allows this once hidden architectural jewel to now be fully appreciated."

The Crypt Link, a design sympathetic to both Gibberd's Cathedral and Lutyen's crypt, allows improved public access to the crypt and the museum it contains, opening this hidden crypt up to the a wider audience and encouraging its use as an exhibition space and for other activities.

This is the first addition to the building since its completion in 1967 and follows on from Nightingale Associates' first involvement with the Cathedral in 1993 when a design team started a ten year programme of renovation and repairs to the main fabric of the Cathedral.

Sir Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944) was commissioned to design a Cathedral to contrast with the Gothic gem of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott which was rising at the other end of Hope Street, where building had started in 1904. The central feature of his design, he decided, was to be a great dome 168 feet (51 meters) in diameter with an internal height of 300 feet (91 meters). The nave and aisles would consist of a series of barrel vaults running at right angles to each other. The High Altar would be twelve feet (4 meters) above the nave floor and a total of 53 altars would line the nave and transept, apses and sacristies. The height from the lowest step of the Western front to the top of the lantern would be a colossal 520 feet (158 meters). (By comparison, the tower of the Anglican Cathedral rises to 330 feet (101 meters).

After the war the Crypt was completed and remains part of the present Cathedral, a magnificent fragment of what might have been. But the grandiose romanesque super-structure, whose main entrance arch could have contained the nearby University's tower, was now costed at an impossible £27 million. Once again the dream was threatened.

Doctor William Godfrey, himself Liverpool born, became Archbishop of Liverpool in 1953. It fell to him to make the decision to reduce the project to realistic proportions. Architects throughout the world were invited in 1960 to design a Cathedral for Liverpool which would relate to the existing Crypt, be capable of construction within five years, cost at the current prices no more than one million pounds for its shell, and most important of all, express the new spirit of the liturgy then being radically reformulated by the Second Vatican Council.

Of 300 entries from all over the world, Sir Frederick Gibberd's (1908-1984) design was chosen, and building began in October 1962. Less than five years later, on the Feast of Pentecost, 14 May 1967, the completed Cathedral was consecrated.

The Civic Trust Award, now in its 50th year, recognises excellence in the built environment. Nominations are not just judged on their innovation or how architecturally advanced they are but on their benefit to the local community, supporting the ethos that design should make better places for people; "those who use it and those who just pass by".