Stilla San Mikiel Takes Top Honour at Malta's Heritage Awards

Valentino Architects' Stilla San Mikiel has won the Judge Maurice Caruana Curran Award, the highest honour at the 20th edition of the Din l-Art Ħelwa Architectural Heritage Awards, Malta's oldest such competition.

The project also shared the Rehabilitation and Re-use of Buildings award with Elementi by MAAK. Not a bad night's work. The Former Oil Depot Garden, developed by the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation, took two prizes: Regeneration of an Area and the newly introduced Landscape within a Heritage Context category.

The Restoration and Conservation Project award went to Butler's House by de Valier. That project turns an 18th-century building in Attard into a contemporary arts and events space — one building, two centuries of use.

How were the winners chosen?

A panel of five judges selected the winners after site visits, assessing each project on architectural excellence, conservation standards (the craft of keeping historic fabric intact) and sensitivity to its surroundings.

The jury praised the architects and clients for showing how overlooked buildings can gain new purpose. The judges' citation carried a notably pragmatic tone.

"Key projects demonstrated how sites that might have otherwise been overlooked held the potential to be transformed into viable, vibrant and future-facing places," they said.

The ceremony took place at Dar il-Ħanin Samaritan in Santa Venera, an architectural landmark designed by Professor Richard England. Elizabeth Camilleri presented the awards on behalf of sponsors PwC Malta.

What warning came with the celebrations?

Din l-Art Ħelwa Executive President Patrick Calleja used the evening to flag ongoing threats to Malta's built heritage, including the organisation's campaign to secure Grade 1 protection (the strictest statutory listing level) for the British Barracks at Fort Chambray.

He called for the same level of protection for Gustav Vincenti's Palazzina Vincenti in St Julian's.

"Development is inevitable but the ruination of our heritage is not," Calleja declared.

He described the awards as more than a celebration — a platform for advocacy and action to safeguard Malta's historic buildings.

Why does a 20-year-old prize still matter?

The awards, now marking two decades, recognise projects that give historic buildings new life while respecting the islands' architectural heritage. Calleja's warning gives the prize its edge: the same islands that restore an 18th-century house in Attard are still litigating the fate of the barracks at Fort Chambray. After twenty years, the ceremony has become as much a watchdog as a party, and the shortlists will show which way Malta's balance between development and conservation is tipping.