Veteran Top End architect Les Platt has claimed the major honour at the NT Architecture Awards

An experienced NT architect has won big at the annual awards, held in Darwin last night. See who it is and what was built in our exclusive gallery.

Camden SmithBusiness Reporter

@CamdenSmith1

less than 2 min read

June 20, 2025 - 1:18PM

NT Architectural awards 2025 Jabiru Health Centre

Northern Territory

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A long time Top End architect who broke a 20-year drought and nominated for an Australian Institute of Architects award, has won the competition’s main prize.

Platt Architects on Saturday night took out the prestigious Reverand John Flynn Public Architect award for the Jabiru Health Centre development.

Completed in May 2024, the architectural objective was to create a distinctive piece of architecture combining culturally engaging design, high-quality clinical functionality and integrated sustainability measures.

Platt Architects’ Jabiru Health Centre was the big winner at the 2025 NT Architects Awards.

Platt Architects principal Les Platt received the award at a ceremony at Museum and Art Gallery NT on Saturday night, along with other category winners whose designs fulfilled the judging criteria.

A 40-year veteran of the Territory landscaping scene, Mr Platt opened his NT practice in 1985 and has delivered education, health, housing, industrial and defence projects across the Territory’s main towns and remotely.

Other significant projects honoured at the awards included Charles Darwin University’s CBD campus, Uluru Kata Tjuta Cultural Centre and the Akeyulerre Healing Centre.

Also in the mix were the multi-million Larrakeyah Passchendaele refurbishment, M&J Builders’ new office construction and Ajar Architects’ Flurry residential housing refurbishment.

Jury chair Matt Elkan from Royal Australian Institute of Architects praised the quality of entrants.

“The Northern Territory is a unique and diverse place,” he said. “The architects of this special part of our country grapple daily with fundamental questions of how to support human existence and thriving in physical, cultural and social environments that often seem to work more against these things than for them.

“This year there were a large number of entries in the Awards from Alice Springs, Darwin and Jabiru,” Mr Elkan said.

“Collectively the submitted projects sought to support indigenous communities, regional health care, media, education, preservation of heritage assets and the development of the communities in which they are situated.