BAR LIBRARY SCOOPS CIVIC TRUST SPECIAL AWARD

Belfast’s Bar Library, winner of the 2004 Civic Trust Northern Ireland Public Realm Special Award, received its award at a local prize-giving ceremony today (Wednesday 22nd September) at the Christchurch Centre of Excellence in Belfast.

The new £17 million headquarters of the Bar Council of Northern Ireland, designed by Belfast-based architects Robinson McIlwaine, has been recognised through this award as the project that best demonstrates design excellence in the public domain in Northern Ireland.

The Civic Trust Northern Ireland Public Realm Special Award, which is sponsored by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, is one of nine special awards handed out across the UK through the Civic Trust Award scheme - one of the largest and most respected architecture and environmental design award schemes in Europe.

At the national awards gala ceremony held earlier this year in Bristol, the judges complimented the Bar Library project: “A simple palette of high quality materials combines with an unashamedly contemporary design to create a building with considerable civic presence. The result is a beautifully crafted modern building of which the citizens of Belfast should feel justifiably proud.”

Since the advent of National Lottery Funding in 1994, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland has played a key role in enhancing the physical and cultural infrastructure of Northern Ireland. It has allocated £28.7 million towards the built environment throughout Northern Ireland and has supported buildings as radical and striking as the Marketplace Theatre in Armagh City, the Millennium Forum in Derry City, the Burnavon in Cookstown and the Island Arts Centre in Lisburn City. The Arts Council also takes a lead in raising awareness of design quality, promoting critical debate and community participation and bringing issues of national importance to the attention of government.

Presenting the Public Realm Special Award at today’s prize-giving ceremony, Arts Council Chairman, Rosemary Kelly, said: “This award is tangible recognition of, and appreciation for, those who are working to improve the quality of the built environment and through that the quality of life for all the people. The award acts as a significant marker. It draws public attention to the importance of designing our urban fabric to the very highest standards, and of the benefits to be derived for everyone.”

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