Portway Lifestyle Centre in Oldbury triumphed in its category at the Local Improvement Finance Trust Awards (LIFT) awards, attended by more than 600 guests from across the public and private sectors at the Hilton Park Lane in London.

It beat competition from eight other schemes across the country to scoop the top prize.

The project is a partnership between Sandwell Council, Sandwell Leisure Trust, Sandwell Primary Care Trust, and Sandwell Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) Company.

It is one of the few of its type in the country to offer integrated health, well-being and leisure services and will open in 2011.

It includes a sports hall, hydrotherapy pool, gym and weight area, dance studio, climbing wall and floodlit football pitches. There will also be a purpose-built doctors' surgery - Tividale Family Practice.

Sandwell Council's leader Cllr Bill Thomas said: "This award is fantastic recognition for the Portway Lifestyle Centre and the hard work put in by project partners.

"The venue will be a centre of excellence for people with disabilities as well as the wider community. It shows Sandwell can lead the country when it comes to providing state of the art facilities for all our communities."

Ninety organisations entered the awards in 11 categories.

Mike Nicklin, General Manager of Sandwell LIFTCo, said: "We are delighted to have won this award with our partners. It demonstrates the hard work and dedication of both the public and private sector team to bring innovation, quality and responsiveness to this unique scheme."

This year's judging panels consisted of experts from public and private sector organisations with a broad spectrum of knowledge.

Richard Nugent, Chairman of Sandwell Primary Care Trust, said: "Winning this award is a credit to the excellent partnership work that is being undertaken on the Portway Lifestyle Centre project.

"Sandwell Primary Care Trust is delighted to be involved in such an innovative project It is an incredibly unique development, with health, well being and leisure services all under one roof and will be a tremendous benefit to everyone in Sandwell."

Lois Taylor, Chair of Board for Sandwell Leisure Trust, said: "We are delighted to be a partner in the Portway Lifestyle Centre project.

"Gaining this award is testament to what an exciting new development this centre will be for Sandwell."

George Farley, chair of the LIFT Awards 2009 Steering Committee, said: "Sandwell LIFTCo was a good example of how challenges in delivering developments can be overcome through continuous innovation. 

“The judges were impressed by the company’s firm rooting in community needs and how it had fully embraced the spirit of the LIFT model."