A plan for the development of the suburban rail network in Cork has taken the major prize at this year's National Planning Awards.
The chq building in Dublin's Docklands which won a conservation award
Cork County Council took the Planning Achievement Award - sponsored by Tesco Ireland - for its suburban rail project.
The judges said the project will result in "the opening of the first new railway line in this State for over 100 years and in the revitalisation of a number of key towns and villages while promoting the move to more sustainable modes of transport."
The awards - organised by the Irish Planning Institute (IPI) - are intended to illustrate the diversity and scope of planning activity and give recognition to successful and innovative planning strategies, schemes or developments which make an outstanding contribution to the quality of life in urban and rural parts of Ireland.
The Urban Design Award went to Murray O'Laoire Architects for their work on the Athlone Town Centre.
The judges said: "An assemblage of underused backland plots at a strategic location, close to the historic core of Athlone town, and transformed them into a new urban quarter of exceptional architectural quality and coherence."
The Conservation Award - sponsored by the Heritage Council - went to the Dublin Docklands Development Authority for its recent renovation of the Custom House Quay Building.
Certificates of merit were also presented to O'Mahony Pike for its North Drogheda Environs Masterplan, to South Dublin Council Council for the Tallaght Integrated Area Plan and to the National Building Agency and Cork City Council for Special Needs and Social Housing and Artists Residence and Studio in Shandon.
Speaking at the presentation in Dublin's Merrion Hotel which was attended by the Minister for the Environment John Gormley, Mr Andrew Hind Irish Planning Institute president said the National Planning Awards were "a celebration of all that is best in Irish planning."
"The record number of entries was an indication of how highly the work of the planning profession is valued," he added.
