House at Maghera named Northern Ireland’s Building of the Year

The Royal Society of Ulster Architects (RSUA) has awarded the Liam McCormick Prize for Northern Ireland’s Building of the Year to ‘House at Maghera’, in Castlewellan, County Down by multi award winning architects McGonigle McGrath.

The prestigious awards ceremony, held in Belfast last night, was the scene of great celebrations for the local practice formed by Kieran McGonigle and Aidan McGrath as two of their projects picked up a number of awards.

Firstly, ‘House at Maghera’ was named as joint winner of the RSUA award for the Best Single House or Extension along with Grillagh Water House by Patrick Bradley Architects. McGonigle McGrath were soon up on stage again as ‘Home from Home’, a CLIC Sargent facility which provides free accommodation to the families of children undergoing treatment for Cancer at the nearby Belfast City Hospital, won three prizes – the RSUA Best Public Building under £3m, a RIBA Regional Award and the RIBA Regional Client of the Year Award.

Martin Hare, RSUA President said, “The RSUA Design Awards primary purpose is to promote excellence in the design of our built environment with the view to making Northern Ireland a better place to be. There is no doubt that all thirteen projects that have received awards this year have truly enhanced our landscape and our communities. These projects demonstrate the positive impact good design can have on our society including its critical role in making Northern Ireland a more attractive place for citizens, tourists and investors.”

“I applaud the determination of the clients, architects and everyone involved in the delivery of these projects as they have upheld design quality often against a backdrop of severe budgetary pressures. It shows it can be done and sets down a challenge to everybody involved in creating our built environment to match or even exceed that design quality. We all have a role in creating a brighter future for Northern Ireland nd architects are ready to play their part.”” 

The winning projects which came in from all corners of Northern Ireland included the Banbridge Health and Care Centre by Kennedy Fitzgerald Architects in association with Avanti Architects. This project won the Best Public Building over £3m and one of only three RIBA Regional Awards. It was adjudged to have been a close runner up for the Liam McCormick Prize.

To view the full list of winning projects from both the RSUA Design Awards 2016 and the RIBA NI Regional Awards 2016 click here.