Maitland Levee and Riverlink Building has taken out the nation’s top honour in Urban Design at the 2019 AIA awards. Designed by McGregor Coxall and CHROFI the project has won the Walter Burley Griffin Award for Urban Design.

The Australian Institute of Architects announced the winners of its 2019 National Awards at an industry event held at Brisbane’s Howard Smith Wharves on 7 November. 76 entries had been shortlisted across 14 categories.

McGregor Coxall congratulates and thanks everyone who contributed to this project, especially our collaborators CHROFI.

“We are thrilled to see Maitland Levee and the Riverlink Building continue to deliver as an exemplar of regional urban design and renewal in Australia”, said Adrian McGregor, Founder & Global Director of Design at McGregor Coxall. McGregor adds, “We enjoyed working with our client Maitland City Council and our collaborators CHROFI. The Council embraced our plan that juxtaposes an elegant, high tech public domain with the City’s grand heritage fabric.”

The historic heart of Maitland had been in decline for over a decade, McGregor Coxall’s masterplan utilised urbanism strategies to revive the local economy, effectively repositioning Central Maitland as a leisure based retail activity centre. The new Riverwalk located on the flood embankment and Riverlink public building, designed by CHROFI, successfully reconnect the precinct to the adjacent Hunter River.

The national jury, led by Immediate Past President Clare Cousins, was encouraged by the volume and strength of projects in regional and remote locations across the country. “In selecting the most outstanding projects from around the country we were heartened that such meaningful and transformational work is being commissioned in regional areas where projects have the capacity to act as incubators for regional growth and to stimulate community engagement,” Clare Cousins said.