Giant’s Casueway Visitor Centre shortlisted for prestigious RICS awards

THE new Giant’s Causeway Visitor Centre has been shortlisted for Northern Ireland’s most prestigious awards for excellence in the built environment, where it will compete against seven other projects in the Design & Innovation category, including Titanic Belfast.

The Bushmills-based centre showcases a state of the art innovative design and is currently attracting 600k visitors per year.

In total, 31 shortlisted projects including large and small, new and reborn building projects from all over Northern Ireland will compete across four categories in the RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) Awards.

The selected entries range from Lisburn’s Ballantine Garden Village in Design & Innovation, the conservation of the Crumlin Road Gaol, Enniskillen’s South West Acute Hospital in the Community Benefit category, and the regeneration of Omagh’s Leap Mill.

Four category winners and a Project of the Year will be selected from the shortlisted entries in the scheme, which is sponsored by Tughans, the Department of the Environment (DoE) and the Department for Social Development (DSD). The winners will then be invited to represent Northern Ireland against projects from across the UK and internationally in the overall RICS Awards.

RICS Northern Ireland Director, Ben Collins, praised the shortlisted entries and said: “Due to the quality of the projects, the shortlist is a beacon of excellence which clearly demonstrates the positive impact of the property and construction professionals on the economy and on the quality of life of local communities.”

Judging for the awards will take place during spring 2013 with the RICS Awards ceremony taking place in May. The prestigious final ceremony will take place in London in October.