Awards

Winner of many Awards and Prizes for original work, including British Academy Research Awards, Society of Antiquaries of London Research Grants, and a Royal Institute of British Architects Research Award

1. Nominated by the British Council for a two-week study-visit in the German Democratic Republic to see conservation projects and historic buildings. Places visited included Berlin, Potsdam, Schwerin, Magdeburg, Weimar, Halberstadt, Quedlinburg, Meissen, Leipzig, Dresden, and Erfurt as a guest of the Ministry of Culture, 1986

2. Nominated again by the British Council for a two-week study-visit in the German Democratic Republic to see conservation projects and historic buildings. Places visited included Berlin, Potsdam, Stendal, Tangermünde, Altenburg, Wörlitz, Leipzig, Erfurt, Eisenach, Wartburg, and Naumburg as a guest of the Ministry of Culture, 1987

3. Sir Banister Fletcher Award for The Art and Architecture of Freemasonry (1991) as Best Book of the Year on Architecture or the Fine Arts, 1992

4. Granted Research Award by The Authors’ Foundation of the Society of Authors for work on a history of The Honourable The Irish Society, 1999

5. Marc Fitch Fund Award for work on the Egyptian Revival, 2002-3

6. Authors’ Society Grant for work on The Oxford Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, 2004

7. Contributions to conservation recognised by the Belfast Buildings Preservation Trust with an Award, 2006

8. Marc Fitch Fund award for book on the Funerary Monuments & Memorials in St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh, 2012

9. Granted a small Research Award by The Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects for work on a new edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Architecture, 2013,  published March 2015

10. In 2017 he was awarded the President's Medal of the British Academy for 'outstanding service to the cause of the humanities and social sciences' in his wider study of the History of Architecture in Britain and Ireland.