On the evening of Thursday 14 May, over 300 guests gathered in the iconic (and aptly named) Ulster Hall in Belfast to celebrate Ulster architecture. The event, organised by the Royal Society of Ulster Architects, was the culmination of the 2026 RSUA Architecture Awards.
This year, projects from all nine counties of Ulster were invited to enter the process. This was one of the fundamental changes introduced to this year’s Awards, as previously only projects in the six counties of Northern Ireland were eligible.
44 projects across Ulster were shortlisted in February. 15 projects were announced as winners in the 12 project categories at the Gala Evening, with Monaghan Peace Campus by Hall Black Douglas picking up an impressive four awards, including the overall Liam McCormick Prize for Building of the Year.
Find out more about each of the project category award winners here.
13 entries were also received in the People and Practice Awards categories. The judges for these categories chose three winners: one for the Lifetime Achievement Award, one for the Rising Star Award and one for the Practice of the Year Award.
The Lifetime Achievement Award was awarded to John Cole CBE, in recognition of a highly distinguished career of over 40 years in the delivery of healthcare buildings and public sector infrastructure across the UK, Ireland and Internationally. The judges said, “John’s impact on public sector architecture in Northern Ireland, particularly in the healthcare sector, is profound. His influence and assistance in client leadership have raised the design quality in the NI healthcare sector and this is evident in the many buildings that have been successful in regional, national and international awards.”
Alex Knowles, architect at FaulknerBrowns’ Belfast studio, was named as the RSUA Rising Star for 2026. This award recognises the often unseen contributions of architects in the early stages of their careers. The judges commended Alex’s ability to balance professional practice with advocacy and heritage work, in particular his work to get the vacant Assembly Rooms in Belfast added to the World Monuments Fund’s list of heritage sites worldwide in need of protection, and in lobbying Belfast City Council to purchase the building.
White Ink Architects was announced as the Practice of the Year. The employee-owned practice is the first of its kind in Northern Ireland, and the judges were impressed by White Ink’s commitment to high quality design at scale, its commitment to people through mentoring of junior staff, its commitment to sustainability through the practice’s own Net Zero ’35 strategy and the sustained (and expanded) growth of its Belfast studio.
