In December 2013 we were awarded one of the prestigious Wood Awards for our refurbishment of Magheralin Parish Hall. The award was presented by Hugh Pearman, Architecture correspondent for the Sunday Times and editor of the RIBA Journal, who chaired the judging committee. The refurbishment won the Repair & Adaptive Reuse category at the Wood Awards ceremony, the judges describing the renovation as “intelligent and commendable work- an unassuming project which has transformed the space. The use of American White oak has lifted the whole process’.
It was a great evening, held in the old guildhall of the Worshipful Company of Carpenters in the City of London, which has occupied the same site since 1429. The Banqueting Hall where the evening was held is itself a wonderful example of a refurbished hall, having received a fire bomb in the blitz, it was subsequently revived in timber pannelling by architect Clifford Wearden of Sir Basil Spence’s practice. The awards are given to furniture makers as well as architects, and an excellent exhibition included beautiful chairs, cabinets and a wonderful surf board as well as architecture. We were accompanied by Raymond McNeil and Ken Forbes MBE of the Parish Committee who were hugely supportive of the Magheralin project and instrumental in ‘making the whole