In a Class of Their Own: ULI Announces Five Winners of the 2008 Awards for Excellence: Europe Competition
Winners Announced During ULI Europe Spring Trends Conference in Stockholm
For more information, contact Marge Fahey at 202/624-7187 or E-mail: mfahey@uli.org
WASHINGTON (May 30, 2008) — Five outstanding developments have been selected as winners of the Urban Land Institute's (ULI) 2008 Awards for Excellence: Europe competition. The Awards for Excellence competition is widely recognized as the land use industry’s most prestigious recognition program.
The winners are: Kraanspoor, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Shopping Square Meydan, Istanbul, Turkey; Stadsfeestzaal, Antwerp, Belgium; Unilever House, London, United Kingdom; and Val d’Europe Downtown District, Marne la Vallee, France. The five winners were chosen from 11 finalists. The announcement of the winners was made this week at the ULI Europe Trends Conference in Stockholm, Sweden.
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 2008 Awards for Excellence: Europe winners were selected by a jury of renowned land use development and design experts: Jury Chair Ian D. Hawksworth, managing director, Capital & Counties, London; Patrick Albrand, managing director, Hines France, Paris; Andrea Amadesi, managing director, IXIS AEW Italia SpA, Milan, Italy; Anne T. Kavanagh, senior portfolio manager, Cambridge Place Investment Management, London; Lee A. Polisano, president, Kohn Pedersen Fox, London; Andreas Schiller, publisher, Immobilien Manager, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany.
Jury Chair Hawksworth announced the Awards for Excellence winners. “All of these projects represent innovative uses and best practices in sustainable development, Hawksworth said.
The 2008 winners were selected from 24 entries from 11 countries, which were narrowed to11 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.
Following are descriptions of the 2008 Awards for Excellence: Europe winners (owners and/or developers in parentheses):
Kraanspoor, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (ING Real Estate Development) By constructing a new three-story, 270-meter-long (886 feet) office building atop a functionally obsolete harbor structure on Amsterdam’s lJ River, the developer minimized its environmental impact by not having to dispose of the mass of concrete and not having to disturb the riverbed with new foundations, while preserving a relic of the harbor’s industrial past. The 12,500-square-meters (134,549 square feet) of energy-efficient office space was limited by the load-carrying capacity of the existing foundation, and takes advantage of its site with a hydrothermal heating and cooling system.
Shopping Square Meydan, Istanbul, Turkey (METRO Group Asset Management Gmbh & Co. KG) Six acres of green roof, visually impressive and unique in Istanbul’s emerging Umraniye district, a 70,000-square-meter (753,473 square feet) shopping center has become a new center for the district by landscaping the entire site, roof and all. Underground parking and Europe’s most extensive geothermal heating and cooling system allowed the 13-hectare (3.2 acres) site and all three hectares (0.74 acre) of roofs to be freed for meadows, lawns, and public plazas.
Stadsfeestzaal, Antwerp, Belgium (Multi Development Belgium nv) The refurbishment of Antwerp’s 100-year-old landmark festival hall, almost destroyed by fire in 2000, not only returns a cherished monument to the center city, but also connects two previously separated shopping districts with a new 20,500-square-meter (220,660 square feet) center of retail activity. The public/private partnership of the city and the developer will soon complete a 49-unit residential complex at the Stadfeestzaal.
Unilever House, London, UK (Stanhope plc) Unilever House, a Grade 11 listed property originally c0ommissioned in 1932, has undergone a refurbishment that restores its classical grandeur and commercial relevance in the City of London. The nine levels of interior structure was removed and replaced with modern-day spaces—built to BREEAM Excellent rating—and let back to Unilever and other tenants.
Val d’Europe Downtown District, Marne la Vallee, France (Euro Disney Associes SCA) As part of the development agreement between the state and the developer of Parc Disneyland 32 kilometers east of Paris, 1,943 hectares (4,800 acres) was set aside for a new town to support the resort destination, served by two rail lines to Paris. That new town, drawing on traditional French village planning design, is now home to 22,000 residents patronizing a downtown district that is 80 percent complete. There are now 50,000 square meters (538,195 square feet) of commercial space, 120,000 square meters (1.3 million square feet) of retail/entertainment space, 500 hotel units, and 1,847 residential units.
The award finalists:
ADIA Headquarters, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. (Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA))
Chimney Pot Park, Salford, UK, (Urban Splash Ltd.)
Corvinus University Campus, Budapest, Hungary, (Wallis Real Estate)
Hotel Wasserturm, Hamburg, Germany, (Patrizia Projektentwicklung GmbH)
Pall Italia Building, Milan, Italy, (Pall Italia S.r.l_.
Zlote Tarasy, Warsaw, Poland, (ING Real Estate Development)
The Urban Land Institute (www.uli.org) 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 40,000 members representing all aspects of the land use and development disciplines.