The prize of £25,000 is the biggest cash award in British architecture.

The Pier Arts Centre was one of seven buildings short-listed for this significant architecture award, and one of two projects submitted by Reiach and Hall Architects.

The jury said:, "The Pier Arts Centre in Orkney houses the internationally important Margaret Gardiner Collection. It sits on the water’s edge in the harbour of Stromness. The project involved the refurbishment of the existing accommodation in the entrance off Victoria Street and the former Hudson’s Bay Company Headquarters Pier Building, and the forming of a new gallery and library/archive.

"The new wing sits parallel to the Pier building but while the original building is stone and solid, the new is glazed and ribbed. The same duo-pitched roof form is used with its gable to the harbour, but with a fresh lightness."

The jury was: "very impressed with the seemingly effortless way in which the new gallery has been settled in beside its neighbour as an integral part of the townscape. The darkness of the simple volume given by the patinated zinc cladding perfectly sets off the neighbouring building during the day, as the contemporary building almost disappears into its own shadow; whilst at night the obverse occurs – the modernity of the new wing strikingly asserts itself as the large scale of the illuminated windows undermines their volume"