Orange City Council’s cultural heritage awards recognised those involved with the restoration and preservation of heritage buildings and places using heritage conservation principles at Orange Regional Museum on Friday.

Councillor Reg Kidd said it was important to reward those who preserved history.

“The overarching theme is to recognise individual in their contribution to preservation and restoration of heritage could be streetscapes or buildings in Orange,” Cr Kidd said.

“It can be anything from a restoration of fence that fits in with style of building when it’s built right through to painting.”

Cr Kidd said heritage buildings were a strong drawcard for visitors.

“I think it’s going to be a growing thing that people get into heritage tourism [in Orange],” he said.

“People go to Stratford-upon-Avon because it was the birthplace of Shakespeare and it has buildings that are centuries old.

“There’s a lot of that people are talking about Orange and its heritage culture.”

Cr Kidd said the care and consideration taken when it came to heritage buildings was “fantastic”.

“It amazes me, we’ve had [the awards] for a few years and we’ve only just set up heritage advisory committee 20 years ago,” he said.

“To see where a culture is changing, where people talk about things getting torn down.

“People look at something and get some advice.”

The seven buildings and places that received awards on the night included: