ULI Announces 11 Finalists For The 2009 Awards For Excellence Competition Covering Europe, Middle East, And Africa

Eleven outstanding developments have been selected as finalists in the Urban Land Institute's (ULI) Awards for Excellence: Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) competition, widely recognized as the land use industry’s most prestigious recognition program.

The competition is part of the Institute’s Awards for Excellence program, established in 1979, which is based on ULI’s guiding principle that the achievement of excellence in land use practice should be recognized and rewarded. ULI’s Awards for Excellence recognize the full development process of a project, not just its architecture or design. The criteria for the awards include leadership, contribution to the community, innovations, public/private partnership, environmental protection and enhancement, response to societal needs, and financial viability.

Over the years, the Awards for Excellence program has evolved from recognition of one development in North America to an international competition with multiple winners. The ULI Awards for Excellence: Europe (now EMEA) was added in 2004, followed by the ULI Awards for Excellence: Asia Pacific and the Global Awards in 2005. Throughout the program’s history, all types of projects have been recognized for their excellence, including office, residential, recreational, urban/mixed-use, industrial/office park, commercial/retail, new community, rehabilitation, and public projects and programs.
The 2009 finalists were selected from 39 entries from 17 countries. The winners of the competition will be announced May 27 at ULI EMEA’s Trends Conference in Vienna, Austria.

The finalists (developers in parentheses) are:

Akaretler Row Houses / W Hotel, (Akaretler Turizm Yatirimlari A.Ş), Istanbul, Turkey

In the heart of the business and hotel district of Istanbul, the original Akaretler Row Houses were built in 1875 by the order of Sultan Abdülaziz as an annex to Dolmabahçe Palace for the accommodation of palace staff. The historical renovation of these houses led the revitalization of an abandoned district now featuring office spaces, retail and residential areas and the W Istanbul Hotel.

American University in Cairo New Campus, (AUC), Cairo, Egypt

The AUC’s new campus is located at the centre of New Cairo City, about 40kilometers east of the current campus in downtown Cairo. It is designed to be a tool and stimulus in itself for learning and to anchor community development around the university. The 260-acre virgin desert site has been developed into 200,000 square meters of energy-efficient housing and academic, administrative and student life facilities.

Barrow Street, (Fabrizia Developments Ltd), Dublin, Ireland

Part of Dublin’s Grand Canal Docks scheme, this innovative project on a brownfield site reuses a former gasholder frame and tanks to develop a major office development including the European Headquarters of Google and a wide range of retail and residential units.

Cabot Circus, (Bristol Alliance, a joint venture between Land Securities and Hammerson), Bristol, UK
Aiming to re-establish the city of Bristol as the regional capital of South-West Britain, this retail-led mixed use project was completed in collaboration with the City Council to deliver new public realm spaces and 140 new shops across a 16-hectare site, integrated into the city streets.

Dickens Heath Village Centre, (Parkridge Holdings), Solihull, UK

A 4.5-hectare mixed-use development in the heart of the Solihull countryside designed to be a living village rather than ‘just’ a housing estate. Dickens Heath features residential, commercial, community and leisure uses in a development sensitive to its rural surroundings and incorporating a nature reserve and village green.

Elm Park, (Radora Developments Ltd), Dublin, Ireland

Elm Park is a low energy, high density mixed-use project comprising a private hospital, hotel, offices, apartments and housing for senior citizens, along with cafes and sandwich bars all provided in a richly landscaped park-like setting on 8 hectares.

Eos Generali, (Bouygues Immobilier), Paris, France

This stand-out office building, which combines innovative architecture with a prime location by the Seine, is the European and French headquarters for Microsoft and Lunbeck labs and the largest sustainable development delivered to date in the Paris region.

Hilton Tower, (The Beetham Organization), Manchester, UK

At 169 meters and 48 floors, this is the United Kingdom’s tallest mixed-use building and a spectacular addition to Manchester’s skyline. The 50,000-square-foot development comprises 219 luxury apartments and a 279-bed Hilton Hotel on a site of less than 0.5 hectares.
Leoben Judicial Complex, (BIG-Services, Immobilienmanagementgesellschaft des Bundes mbH), Leoben, Austria

A new approach for any penal system, this complex includes a court building and an integrated prison for 200 inmates. It is all designed with a focus on humane dignity whilst satisfying all safety requirements and giving the city a new and beautiful building.

Liverpool One, (Grosvenor), Liverpool, UK

A transformational £1billion, 42-acre mixed-use development in Liverpool city center. Liverpool One is an open development that retains many of the existing street patterns long familiar to shoppers and visitors to Liverpool. However, through comprehensive redevelopment, it now boasts 160 retail shops, 250,000 sq ft of leisure space, a 5 acre park, apartments, hotels and a new bus interchange.
Mountain Dwellings, (Hoepfner and Danish Oil Company), Copenhagen, Denmark
Mountain Dwellings was designed to be “two-thirds parking and one-third living.” It offers a multi-story parking structure as the foundation for 80 housing units integrated into one 10-story building with optimized solar orientation, natural ventilation and on-site rainwater collection used in the landscaped roof garden areas.

The 2009 ULI Awards for Excellence: EMEA finalists were selected by a jury of renowned land use development and design experts: Ian D. Hawksworth, managing director, Capital & Counties, London; Patrick Albrand, managing director, Hines France, Paris; Max Barclay, head of communications and internal operations, Stronghold Invest AB, Stockholm; Luca de Ambrosis Ortigara, partner, Realty Partners SRL, Milan; Andrew Gould, head of professional and advisory, Jones Lang LaSalle, London; Hakan Kodal, president and chief executive officer, KREA Gayrimenku/Real Estate, Istanbul; Dr. Karsten von Koeller, chairman of Lone Star Germany and non-executive director and member of the investment committee, W.P. Carey LLC, Frankfurt.

The jury was challenged by the large number of applications and the high quality of the projects, which struck the judges as particularly significant in the current economic environment. According to Jury Chairman Hawksworth, the awards finalists illustrate that well-designed, well-built projects can thrive even in dark economic times. “These are great examples of success that showcase creativity, innovation, and long-term thinking,” Hawksworth said. “Perhaps now more than ever, the ULI Awards for Excellence program reminds us of the key difference that responsible land use development can make, in terms of longevity and overall community sustainability.”

More information about ULI’s Awards for Excellence program is at www.uli.org/awardsandcompetitions

source : ULI