THE stage one restoration of St Georges Cathedral has won Western Australia’s top architecture prize, the George Temple Poole Award, from the Royal Australian Institute of Architects WA Chapter. Heritage specialists Hocking Planning & Architecture undertook the conservation work on the cathedral, which included reconstructing the slate roof and upgrades of ventilation and stormwater systems. The project also won awards for conservation and lighting design, which was upgraded to be more efficient and unobtrusive. Other winners in the conservation category included Palassis Architects’ Fremantle Prison conservation and St Georges College projects, as well as Philip Griffiths Architects’ development at the Thompson Bay Cottages on Rottnest Island. RAIA WA president Rod Mollett said the conservation category was particularly strong this year. “It’s extremely gratifying that, at a time when WA is enjoying a boom of new building activity, the architecture profession continues to make a significant contribution to the conservation of our built heritage,” he said. In other categories, Scotch College’s new multi-purpose auditorium by Taylor Robinson won an award for public architecture. Several holiday homes, including projects by Wright Feldhusen Architects and Peter Moran, also won awards for residential construction. In the multiple housing category, JCY Architects and Urban Planners picked up an award for their Smiths Beach Resort project, as did Hartree & Associates for their 68 Marine Terrace Apartments project in Fremantle. An industrial project, the ICM Group engineering services workshop by Chindarsi Architects, won the commercial category. The awards, announced last Friday, attracted nearly 70 entries, with a total of 18 awards and 14 commendations presented. Projects are assessed according to architectural quality, character and utility of spaces, the relationship of the building to its context, cost and awareness of environmental and energy factors.