Sustainable Planning Award 2008
School of Planning, Architecture & Civil Engineering

The Orchard Building at Stranmillis University College in Belfast has become the first winner of a Sustainable Planning award organised in Northern Ireland by the Royal Town Planning Institute NI (RTPI NI) branch and the RSPB.

Gavan Rafferty, Lecturer in the Institute of Spatial & Environmental Planning was one of the judging panel members, explains the problems the judges faced:

“The range of applications was so wide it was difficult to compare the very different schemes. The award sought to recognise the efforts and achievements of truly sustainable development whether in rural or urban areas, large or small in scale, new development or regeneration or from the public, private or community sectors and that was certainly reflected in the quality of the applications.

“However, the winner stood out and the panel decision was unanimous. The Orchard Building is an exemplar project that shows a publicly funded building can be built within budget while achieving high sustainable development standards. We congratulate Stranmillis College and the government departments involved for their foresight and support for this project.”

Link to the full RSPB report of presentation