Environmentally friendly structures across Northern Ireland have been lauded by NI Minister Sammy Wilson.

Mr Wilson, speaking at a Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) / Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) awards ceremony at Stormont, said: "It is a proud moment to be able to celebrate innovative sustainable design and development at this awards ceremony."

He said all the winners had environmental issues at the heart of their projects and showed the way forward for an economically and socially responsible future for Northern Ireland.

The Northern Ireland Sustainable Planning Awards are a joint RTPI and RSPB initiative to promote the awareness and implementation of environmentally-sensitive planning in Northern Ireland.

The winners were selected from over 20 entries.

Successful applicants were then short-listed in each of the three categories: Rural Areas and Natural Environment, Sustainable Communities and Regeneration, and Urban Areas and Built Development.

Visits were carried out to each of the short-listed sites and they were all judged against stringent criteria.

The award winner in the Rural Areas and Natural Environment section was the Orchard Acre Barn in Fermanagh, which replaced dilapidated outhouses on a farm near Irvinestown.

Northern Ireland's first eco village, the Woodbrook, Brokerstown Village, Lisburn received the award in the Urban Areas and Built Development category.

The refurbishment of the Playhouse in Londonderry, which used preserved and re-used material, won the award for Sustainable Communities and Regeneration.

(PR/BMcC)