Arts Inc. Heretaunga has taken out the Supreme Award in the Landmarks Trust Awards 2021, announced last week.

The awards are held every two years and include five categories: public art works, fine architecture, landscape, history and façade enhancements.

Landmarks Trust president John Eaden and secretary Anthea Bailey presented the 2021 winners with certificates at a small ceremony held at Landmarks Square this month (rescheduled from last year due to COVID).

The Jeremy Dwyer Award for Excellence went to Hastings community gallery Arts Inc for achievements including its Hastings Community Arts Centre exhibition programme, the 2020 and 2021 Hawke’s Bay Arts Festivals, the 2020 Blossom Parade, and the ‘Culture Canvas’ murals.

Chairman Andy Heast said Arts Inc was rapt to win. “It was very special for our team to be acknowledged for the breadth of what we do.”

At the ceremony, Ms Bailey read brief citations about each of the winners, before thanking Hastings mayor Sandra Hazlehurst for her ongoing support. “We really appreciate that Sandra has been an active supporter of Landmarks for a long time.

“The awards are about honouring excellent community work. No one actually recognises the range of good things our community does quite the way we do. That’s because the awards are under the four tenets that were set up by the late mayor Jeremy Dwyer in the 1990s – public art works, history, architecture and landscape.”

The Art in Public Places award went to Hawke’s Bay sculptor Philipp Meier for his bright pink, giant Prunus Awanui sculpture, installed on the recently refurbished Landmarks Square on Warren Street.

Mr Meier said he chose Prunus Awanui because of its important link to Mayor Dwyer, who developed the Landmarks philosophy in Hastings. Mr Dwyer’s aim had been to bring the city back to life after the particularly trying economic times in the 1980s.

“The link was about the planting of the Prunus Awanui that Mr Dwyer had planted in Hastings streets.”

First place in the History category went to the Hastings District Heritage Trails Society for their development of the Clive Heritage Trail and brochure.

Society chair Megan Williams said the society created the Clive brochure to educate people about the small town’s history. “East Clive used to be a thriving village called Waipureku with homes, hotels and shops.”

Heritage trails are important for tourism, economic development, education and culture, she said.

Rob and Barb Hansen, of Hansen Property Group Limited, won the Architecture category for their sympathetic redevelopment of the historic Tribune building on Queen St East.

Formerly the Hawke’s Bay Today building, the development has been named Tribune as a nod to the newspaper’s former name, Herald Tribune. The precinct features retail, hospitality and office spaces set in an urban landscaped environment.

Mixed-use urban developments can be seen in many cities worldwide, Mrs Hansen said. “Hawke’s Bay with its climate, and in particular Hastings, was more than ready for that concept.”

Te Mata Park Trust won the Landscape award for its rongoā garden, a recently developed extension of Te Mata Park.

The Trust raised $2.5 million from the local community and charitable trusts to buy and develop the additional land, which was opened to the public in 2020. Aside from the garden, the park extension includes mountain biking tracks, walking tracks, tracks suitable for those with compromised mobility, and a kids’ biking area.

Te Mata Park Trust manager Emma Buttle said the rongoā garden is an easily accessible garden that visitors will be able to walk through, and learn about plants used traditionally as rongoā (medicine).

40GS Properties Ltd was the winner of the Façade Enhancement category, for the Kelly McNeil Building at 113 Queen St.

40GS owner Greg Edmonds said local designer Alan Passchier drew the original sketch, and came up with the colour scheme, which enhances every detail of the façade. The mural was completed by Brandon Blair of Crimson Flower Ltd, also in Hawke’s Bay. “It’s been a roaring success,” Mr Edmonds said.

2021 Landmarks Trust Award recipients

Jeremy Dwyer Award for Excellence

WINNER: Arts Incorporated Heretaunga

Art in Public Spaces Award

WINNER: Philipp Meier (Prunus Awanui)

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Dali Susanto (Accessible Art Projects), Hawke’s Bay Pasifika Youth Leadership Group (Hastings War Memorial Library Mural)

History Award

WINNER: Hastings District Heritage Trails Society (Clive Heritage Trails)

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Ewan McGregor (History library – Hautope)

Architecture Award

WINNER: Hansen Property Group Ltd (Tribune)

Landscape Award

WINNER: Te Mata Park Trust (Te Mata Park extension)

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Ariki Huata and Wine Country Sheet Metal and Engineering (Hastings city centre tree guards)

Façade Enhancement Award

WINNER: 40GS Properties (Kelly McNeil Building/113 Queen St)

HIGHLY COMMENDED: South Island Developments (131 Russell St North); Lisa Webster (201 Karamu Rd North).

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