In 2013 Pem received an OAM for his extensive contribution to urban design education with the following citation:
‘OAM for service to architectural education, particularly in the field of urban design.’
The award was an acknowledgement for Pem’s part-time tertiary teaching as an external lecturer in architecture, planning and urban design over a 30 year period in some ten subject areas at six Australian Universities, details of which are covered elsewhere herein.
Although professional architects do, from time to time, receive acknowledgement in the honours list for their services to architecture, such awards are more frequently centred on particularly important projects or especially successful design outcomes. They are not frequent in the field of architectural education. Pem was chuffed to be so remembered.