The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul has been standing in Montreal’s luxurious Square Mile since 1931. At the time it was built, little or no consideration was given to the sustainability of the building materials. But when the roof needed renovating nearly 80 years later, times had changed and so too, approaches to construction.? Considerations of sustainability and historic preservation went hand in hand for the installation of an insulated 17,500 square-foot copper batten-seam roof system that sought to retain the building’s gothic revival style and capture notable custom details.

The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul restoration is just one of the outstanding projects being recognized with a 2011 North American Copper in Architecture Award (NACIA) by the Copper Development Association (CDA) and the Canadian Copper & Brass Development Association (CCBDA).

Overall, twelve projects were recognized in the New Construction, Restoration/Renovation, and Ornamental Applications categories. A panel of architectural and copper industry experts evaluated the projects on overall building design, integration of copper, craft of copper installation, and excellence in innovation or historic restoration.

The NACIA program is intended to increase public awareness and promote the excellence in architectural copper design for buildings constructed throughout the United States and Canada.

The architects and contractors of the mentioned projects will receive commemorative plaques that feature copper etchings of the submitted project. All the projects, including hi-res photos and profiles, are featured on CDA’s website.