Bendigo’s new $630 million hospital won the City and Regional scale Built Projects prize at the annual Australian Urban Design Awards on 25 October. The hospital, which opened early last year, was designed by Silver Thomas Hanley with Bates Smart and Oculus. It features wedge-shaped towers, an internal “street”, inner courtyards and green roofs, and intriguingly syncopated facades of glass panels – all intended to make the facility appear more like a streetscape than a monolithic and imposing medical facility. The jury said it went “beyond convention by creating a precinct that engages with the heritage, [and] cultural and ecological character of the region”. The Local and Neighbourhood scale Built Projects award went to Stage one of the regeneration of the former South Sydney Hospital site – part of the rejuvenation of Sydney’s Green Square neighbourhood, which is Australia’s largest urban renewal project. The regeneration was led by the City of Sydney Council, but involved eight other design studios. One notable aspect of the renewal project is a large, sheltered outdoor public space fronted by what used to be an old nurses’ home but which is now the $32 million Joynton Avenue Cultural Centre designed by architect Peter Stutchbury. A Local and Neighbourhood scale Built Projects prize also was awarded to M3 Architecture and Brian Hooper Architect for their work in reviving Barcaldine’s main street. Pride of place in this renewal project was reserved for the heritage-listed “Tree of Knowledge” around which where shearers from the Central West of Queensland gathered during their unsuccessful 1891 strike. This meeting later led to the creation of the Australian Labor Party. The City of Melbourne Councils’ “Central Melbourne Design Guide”, which lays out ideal outcomes for new developments in a fast-changing CBD, won one of two award citations in Leadership, Advocacy and Research on a city and regional scale. The other went to the Level Cross Removal Authority’s Urban Design Framework which is orchestrating the replacement of Melbourne’s dangerous railway crossings with subterranean or elevated rail corridors. No main award was given for local or neighbourhood scale leadership and advocacy, but two commendations were given for the future planning for West Melbourne, and another for an integrated vision for Perth’s Curtin University campus. The Australian Urban Design Awards – established to recognise “contemporary Australian urban design projects of the highest quality and to encourage cities, towns and communities across the country to strive for best practice in all projects” – were presented at a ceremony in Sydney on 25 October. BUILT PROJECTS – City and regional scale AWARD: Bendigo Hospital Project (Vic) by Silver Thomas Hanley with Bates Smart and Oculus Commendation: Darling Harbour Transformation (NSW) by Hassell/Hassell and Populous Commendation: Barangaroo South (NSW) by Aspect Oculus, Lendlease, Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners BUILT PROJECTS –Local and neighbourhood scale AWARD: Former South Sydney Hospital Site – Stage 1 (NSW) by City of Sydney with Peter Stutchbury Architecture, Design 5, JMD, Sprout Landscape Architecture, CAB, Fox Johnston, Jane Irwin Landscape Architects and CHROFI. AWARD: Main Street Barcaldine (QLD) by M3 Architecture and Brian Hooper Architect Commendation: Railway Square (WA) by Place Laboratory. LEADERSHIP, ADVOCACY AND RESEARCH – City and regional scale AWARD: Central Melbourne Design Guide (VIC) by City of Melbourne AWARD: Level Crossing Removal Authority Urban Design Framework (VIC) by Level Cross Removal Authority. Commendation: Urban Choreography: Central Melbourne 1985 (VIC) by Kim Dovey, Rob Adams and Ronald Jones. LEADERSHIP, ADVOCACY AND RESEARCH – local and neighbourhood scale NO AWARD GIVEN .