The Sussex Heritage Trust Awards

2026 will be the 28th year of the Sussex Heritage Trust Awards, which are designed to recognise and reward the highest quality conservation, restoration and good design of newly built projects while encouraging the use of traditional skills and crafts. Click here for a complete list of 2025 winners.

A wide variety of projects have received Awards including large country houses converted into luxury apartments; a redundant water pumping station, a well pump house with ice house; a variety of mills, barns, oasts and outbuildings all saved from dereliction and transformed into homes and offices; restored and re-ordered churches, towers and spires; reclaimed and restored gardens and even dovecotes; together with new and contemporary homes, art galleries, museums and theatres.  We would like to see more new buildings entered for awards this year and would welcome applications from architects, developers and owners.

There are eleven categories of Awards. Winners of Awards receive a hand crafted slate plaque which is to be attached to the winning project. There may also be Highly Commended projects in any given category. The Building Crafts Award, the Sussex Heritage Person of the Year Award and Young Apprentice of the Year Award are presented to individuals rather than to projects.  All parties involved in the winning projects receive Certificates.

Additionally, there are two special Awards: The South Downs Award and The Eco Award. To enter these Awards, you must have submitted your project into one of the main categories.

The South Downs Award winner is selected from the winning projects within the South Downs National Park area within Sussex, which will be automatically put forward for this Award.  The Eco Award will be given to winning projects which demonstrate excellence in sustainability, biodiversity and energy efficiency.

The judging teams usually comprise a Sussex Heritage Trust Trustee, a professional in the appropriate field and a ‘lay person’ to ensure a balanced view. All are volunteers and receive no remuneration. The criteria include the project’s suitability of purpose, the best use of the site, the quality of workmanship and suitability of materials used.

We are grateful for the support of organisations and individuals who make the Sussex Heritage Trust Awards Scheme possible, click here to find out more about them.

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