When:

Entries open: 18 April 2025

Entries close: 13 July 2025

Awards presentation: 18 October 2025

This year's theme: Unearthed

What are the Built Environment Awards?

The Built Environment Awards are two separate programs that contribute to and celebrate our understanding of the Inner West's built heritage: the Medal for Conservation, and the Inner West Urban Photography Competition.

New Canterbury Rd BEA

The Built Environment Awards are two separate programs that contribute to and celebrate our understanding of the Inner West's built heritage: the Medal for Conservation and the Inner West Urban Photography Competition.

Entries for 2024 have now closed. The winners and finalists will be announced at an awards event on Saturday 19 October 2024.

Winners and Commended - Built Environment Awards 2024

Medal for Conservation 2024

Winner - 9 Tamar Street, Marrickville

(Designer: Potter & Wilson Architects / Photographer: Brigid Arnott)

The front of a single-family home.

The rear of a single-family home. Large sliding doors open an interior living space out to a patio area.

High commendation - 54 Birchgrove Road, Balmain

(Designer: Jonathan Phillips and Bill Clifton / Photographer: Jonathan Phillips)

A two-storey corner terrace building in dusk light.

Commendation - 492-494 Marrickville Road, Dulwich Hill

(Designer: Christian Grennan - Kreis Grennan Architecture / Photographer: Andreas Bommert)

Shopfronts with modern shop-top apartment housing on an inner suburban main street.

Commendation - 39 Unwins Bridge Road, Sydenham

(Designer: Brianna Jessup - Hector Abrahams Architects / Photographer: Richard Glover)

A small inner-suburban town hall with a renovated façade.

Commendation - House in Lilyfield

(Designer: Charmaine Pang / Photographer: Tom Ferguson)

The front of a renovated single-family home. There are two distinct parts of the building: an original part in white cladding, and a modern extension in dark timber.

Urban Photographer 2024

Primary school category

Winner - Richard (Rory) Miller - Marrickville Library - Concrete Folds

An abstract upward view of the concrete ceiling of a building with multiple ridges, with supports rising from the sides of the frame to meet it.

Christian Nguyen - Textures of the Past

A fairly close view of an inner-suburban building showing a variety of textures: bricks, a sandstone column rising from a pink-painted smooth rendered wall, a white-painted wall with a rougher render, and a pebble-paved ground with a steel rubbish bin positioned above it.

High Commendation - Jasper Galpin - Staircase to nature

A weathered stone staircase curves and rises through a grassy, bushy urban setting.

High school category

Winner - Rhys Miers - Two Tall Boys

Two tall cylindrical industrial towers, situated closely together, rise dramatically into the blue sky.

High Commendation - Innes Winchcombe - Contrasts of Time

A dilapidated single-family cottage house, gated off and with a real estate SALE sign outside, stands directly alongside recently-built apartments next door.

General category

Winner - Daniel James - Classic terrazzo stairwell

The stairwell of a walk-up apartment building. The lower and upper sections of the stairway meet at a blue-and-white-tiled landing, lit by evocative daylight from a window.

High Commendation - Tug Dumbly - Ward 14 (2)

A room in a heavily dilapidated and abandoned building. A large unattached propeller sits among small detritus on the floor.

High Commendation - Jared Harrison - Lockstep

Buildings in an industrial area, one painted a bright red and another bright pink. A system of streets runs between them.

Finalists for 2024 Marrickville Medal

Address Designer Builder Photographer
Address : 61 Morgan Street, Petersham Designer: Jessica Matson Architecture Pty Ltd Builder: BM Build Photographer: Simon Wood
Address : 492-494 Marrickville Road, Dulwich Hill (Building name: Pleiades Court) Designer: Christian Grennan, of Kreis Grennan Architecture Builder: Terry Biery, of Strategy Construction Photographer: Andreas Bommert
Address : 39 Unwins Bridge Road, Sydenham Designer: Brianna Jessup, Hector Abrahams Architects Builder: Rapid Construction Photographer: Richard Glover

 

Address : 9 Tamar Street, Marrickville Designer: Potter & Wilson Architects Builder: Masters Building Services Photographer: Brigid Arnott
Address : Wisteria Project, Summer Hill Designer: Carter Williamson Architects - Shaun Carter, Thu Zaw, Julie Niass, Steven Le, Tiffany Liew Builder: Andrew Burton Constructions Photographer: Pablo Veiga, with styling by Claire Delmar
Address : House in Lilyfield Designer: Charmaine Pang Builder: BCM Aust (William Blackwell) Photographer: Tom Ferguson
Address : 54 Birchgrove Road, Balmain Designer: Owner and Builder with heritage advice (Weir Phillips) Builder: Robert Plumb Build Pty Ltd (Bill Clifton) Photographer: Jonathan Phillips
Address : 18 Colgate Avenue, Balmain Designer: Daniel Cowley Architect Builder: Nathan Smith Photographer: Daniel Cowley and Sue Stubbs

Finalists for 2024 Urban Photography Awards

Primary school category

Name Title
Name: Myra Lykos Title: Marrickville Library
Name: Richard (Rory) Miller Title: Marrickville Library: Concrete Folds
Name: Christian Nguyen Title: God’s Arches
Name: Christian Nguyen Title: Urban Textures of the Past
Name: Ariana Rahi Title: Steeple
Name: Oliva Mak Title: Through the Arch you can find Connection
Name: Jasper Galpin Title: Old Tracks – New Fun
Name: Jasper Galpin Title: Staircase to nature
Name: Anjelica Tomac Title: Musical Leaves Lean on Me
Name: Anjelica Tomac Title: Please close the gate at all times

High school category

Name Title
Name: Winston Parry Title: Annandale Arts Centre
Name: William Au Title: Rolling through time
Name: Finn Kelly Title: Mirror
Name: Innes Winchcombe Title: Contrast of time
Name: Rhys Miers Title: Two Tall Boys
Name: Rhys Miers Title: All stations to Central

General category

Name Title
Name: Michael Fermor Title: Greek wedding song
Name: Tracye Hughes Title: Always watching you
Name: Pamela Proestos Title: Blue, blue, boring blue
Name: Lisa Tabua Title: Parramatta Road at Sunrise
Name: Cass Nacard Title: Windows of Leichhardt
Name: Suzanne Lowe Title: Power Station
Name: Fiona Bowring Title: Stepped, Bolted and Cabled
Name: Annabel White Title: Homeward bound
Name: Daniel James Title: St Peters laneways
Name: Daniel James Title: Classic terrazzo stairwell
Name: Hao Quan Cai Title: Colour symphony
Name: Alex McClintock Title: Betta Meats
Name: Anthony Edgar Title: The Old and the New
Name: John Wilmer Jimenez Title: Thread of Development
Name: John Wilmer Jimenez Title: Bridge of Past and Present
Name: Anthony Fretwell Title: The shadow of development
Name: Tug Dumbly Title: Ward 14 (2)
Name: Flav Title: Electric Sunset
Name: Geoff Harvey Title: Fog in Enmore
Name: Therese Spruhan Title: Diving tower at dusk 1
Name: Andrew Miers Title: White Bay Power Station – 1
Name: Jared Harrison Title: Lockstep

Marrickville Medal for Conservation

The Marrickville Medal for Conservation has been awarded annually since 1995 and was one of the first of its kind in New South Wales.

It celebrates built conservation works that contribute to the understanding and preservation of the Inner West’s rich cultural and architectural heritage.

The award coincides with the state-wide National Trust Heritage Festival held in April–May every year.

Eligibility and judging

The award is open to all building works, completed in the past three years, having positive conservation outcomes. Conservation includes any of the following approaches: 

- Preservation
- Restoration
- Reconstruction
- Adaptation
- Interpretation

Works can be large or small, private or public, but the judges will be looking for thoughtful and innovative outcomes.

The three-person judging panel may include: a heritage specialist, a member of a local heritage society and a conservation architect.

Inner West Urban Photography Competition

The Inner West Urban Photography Competition is open to people of all ages and abilities, and encourages people to engage with the Inner West Council urban landscape.

Eligibility and judging

Inner West Urban Photography Competition images must in some way feature, reference or comment on heritage attributes of our built environment within the Inner West Council local government area.

The municipality is full of uniquely interesting places, spaces, and details which may evoke strong emotive responses.

The competition specifically seeks a contemporary perspective on the layers of urban fabric around us.

The judging panel may include two or more of the following judges: a photographic teacher or curator, Council's Cultural or Heritage Advisor, a member of the local heritage societies, a commercial photographer or head of photography, and/or an LRAC member.

The Built Environment Awards are part of the National Trust’s 2022 Australian Heritage Festival which runs throughout April and May.

Additional information about the Heritage Festival can be found at the National Trust website.

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Page last updated: 01 Apr 2025