NewActon's Nishi building has outshone buildings from around the world to win International Project of the Year at the 2015 Building Awards in London.
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The Nishi building was up against projects in Cyprus, Hong Kong, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates and Norway in its category of the prestigious awards that recognise excellence in the building industry.
Molonglo Group's development manager, James Bichard, who has worked on the project for five years, said the team was thrilled with the result and excited to see Nishi recognised at an international level.
"The starting point for Molonglo Group is always, 'Why can't Canberra be a great city like Barcelona or Tokyo or London or New York?' So that's always been our approach to developing in Canberra," he said.
"You always have high hopes for a project. It's been a long process and lots and lots of people have been involved so it's great to see at the end that everything we set out to do at the beginning is resonating with people across the world."
The building's design engineers Arup led the submission from their London office, with assistance from Molonglo Group, which highlighted Nishi's sustainability credentials and the strong focus on design and artist involvement.
"Not everyone likes all of Nishi but most people like one aspect of the building, whether it's the crazy timber facade with all the plants growing up it on the outside or the big timber stairs inside where people always have their wedding photos taken or just hanging out in Monster Café and Bar by the fireplace and having a cocktail and feeling a really buzzy environment on the inside," Bichard said.
The award was presented to representatives from Arup on Wednesday night by comedian David Walliams from Little Britain in a ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.
The news comes just over a week after Canberra's Sasa Sestic, founder of ONA Coffee, took out the title of world's best barista at the World Barista Championships in Seattle.
Bichard said it was an exciting time in the nation's capital as the city "comes of age".
"People love to bash Canberra because they don't know any better. It's great to be able to say this is why Canberra rocks."
