In a Class of Their Own: ULI Announces 5 Winners of the 2007 Awards for Excellence: Europe Competition

Winners Announced During ULI Europe Spring Trends Conference in Hamburg

For more information, contact Marge Fahey at 202/624-7187 or E-mail: mfahey@uli.org

WASHINGTON (June 6, 2007) — Five outstanding developments have been selected as winners of the Urban Land Institute's (ULI) Awards for Excellence: Europe competition. The Awards for Excellence are widely recognized as the land use industry’s most prestigious recognition program.

This is the fourth year of the Awards for Excellence: Europe program. Eight finalists were narrowed to the final five: two from Spain and one each from Turkey, France, and Poland.

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 success.

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. In 2004, the program added the ULI Awards for Excellence: Europe, and in 2005 added the ULI Awards for Excellence: Asia Pacific and the Global Awards. 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 2007 Awards for Excellence: Europe finalists were selected by a jury of renowned land use development and design experts: Jury Chair Andrea Amadesi, managing director, IXIS AEW Italia SpA, Milano, Italy; Patrick Albrand, managing director, Hines France, Paris; Ian D. Hawksworth, managing director, Capital & Counties, London; Anne T. Kavanagh, senior portfolio manager, Cambridge Place Investment Management, London; Barbara Knoflach, chief executive officer, SEB Asset Management AG, Frankfurt; Lee A. Polisano, president, Kohn Pedersen Fox, London; Andreas Schiller, publisher, Immobilien Manager, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany.

Jury Chair Amadesi announced the Awards for Excellence winners during ULI Europe’s spring trends conference June 6 in Hamburg, Germany. “All five of these projects represent the best examples of creative land use and planning in Europe,” Amadesi said.

The 2007 winners were selected from 34 entries, which were narrowed to eight finalists. Projects were evaluated on the basis of financial viability, the resourceful use of land, design, relevance to contemporary issues, and sensitivity to the community and environment. Each contributes to a live-work-play environment and is designed to complement and enhance the greater community.

The 2007 Awards for Excellence: Europe winners (owners and/or developers in parentheses) are:

• Kanyon, Istanbul, Turkey (Kanyon) Kanyon is an open-air “urban oasis” in the dense financial district of Istanbul. Four levels of upscale retail space overlook a 183-metre-long “canyon” that cuts through the project. Also on the three-hectare site are 179 apartments and a 26-story office tower.
• Manufaktura Lodz, Poland (Apsys Management) On a 27-hectare site of a former textile mill in the center of Poland’s second-largest city, the developer has refurbished 14 historically-protected buildings to create a lifestyle centre organized around a market square. A two-level mix of international retail shops and restaurants occupy 121,000 square metres, with a hotel and a museum to come in the next phase.
• Meudon Campus, Meudon sur Seine, France (Hines France) Five speculative low-rise office buildings, totaling 44,300 square metres, comprise this two-hectare green-roofed office park built on the brownfield remains of a Roman hillside quarry and, more recently, an auto factory. In between the Issy les Moulineaux and La Defense office submarkets, the Meudon Campus has 450 metres of Seine River frontage and views of Paris.
• New Terminal Area Airport Madrid-Barajas, Barajas, Spain (Estudio Lamela) The new Terminal 4 at the Madrid-Barajas international airport includes a 470,000 square-metre terminal building, a 335,000 square-metre satellite building, and parking for 9,000 cars—all daylight and transparent so that travelers remain properly oriented and enjoy the travel experience. The wavy roof incorporates large, circular skylights and its undersurface is sheathed in bamboo.
• Petit Palau, Barcelona, Spain (Palau de la Musica Catalana) The Petit Palau respectfully expands the Palau de la Musica Catalana, A UNESCO World Heritage Site, with a subterranean performance space that allows the original Art Nouveau masterpiece to be exposed on all sides as was originally intended.

The Urban Land Institute is a nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the Institute has more than 36,000 members representing all aspects of land use.