The big winner of this year’s ceremony was AFI Europe. The development company received a glut of awards including Retail Developer of the Year, Office Developer of the Year as well as Shopping Center Manger of the Year, which went to Israel Vizel. AFI Park 1, phase 1 of AFI’s ground breaking office complex, launched in 2012 in Romania, took home three awards. The jury awarded the project: Office Development of the Year, Overall Project of the Year and it also received a SEE Green Building Award (commendation) for its LEED Application-in-Process. “We are extremely honoured and grateful for all the awards,” commented David Hay, CEO at AFI Europe. Further crowning a successful evening, David Hay picked up the coveted Professional of the Year award for 2012. “I am extremely happy and honoured to receive such recognition, based on the accomplishments of AFI Europe for 2012,” he said on collecting his award. The awards gala, held on May 16th at the five-star Athenee Palace Hilton Hotel in Bucharest, brought together some of the top-performing firms and professionals operating in the SEE region. Chosen by members of EuropaProperty’s esteemed SEE Real Estate Awards Academy, this year’s winners were recognised for their continued market resilience and success in the region. Popular winners on the night included Jones Lang LaSalle, which won Retail and Investment Agency of the Year awards. The Office Agency of the Year went to The Advisers/Knight Frank and CBRE picked up the Industrial Agency of the Year award. Other big winners included NEPI, which collected Investor of the Year as well as jointly sharing the Retail Development of the Year for Ploiesti Shopping City with Carrefour Property Romania. Anca Damour from Carrefour Property Romania, commented, “We are proud that Ploiesti Shopping City was awarded for Retail Development of the Year.” Other developments awarded on the night included Alinso Group’s Ploiesti Park West, which won Warehouse Development of the Year. Alinso also picked up the Warehouse Developer of the Year. For the third year running H&M proved its continuing consumer popularity and unrivalled expansion throughout the region by picking up the Overall Retailer of the Year. UniCredit collected a brace of awards by picking Bank of the Year as well as a Green Building Award for UniCredit Tower. TriGranit Management Corporation collected the Property Management Firm of the Year award for the first time. Philip Evans, the CEO of TriGranit Management Corporation, commented: “This award is recognition of our professional excellence in Croatia, new mandates in Bulgaria and Republic of Macedonia and our re-entry into the Romanian market. I am especially proud of wining this award against such prestigious competition.” Further company awards were received by WSP Group, which picked up Professional Service Provider of the Year and Project Management Firm of the Year went to Gardiner & Theobald again. Other awards were presented to Epstein Architecture & Engineering as Architectural Firm of the Year and Dentons was awarded Law Firm of the Year. Recognising the growing influence of green-based ideologies in real estate EuropaProperty, in association with the Green Building Professionals Association, gave away an additional 12 SEE Green Building Awards. The 12 projects were awarded for their innovation and sustainability in green development. Also, during the gala dinner, HOSPICE Casa Sperantei, charity partner for the SEE Real Estate Awards, raised over €5,000 through a silent auction. Alice Paterson, Campaign Director at Bucharest Hospice Appeal, commented, “It was a great opportunity to spread our message and raise awareness about palliative care in SEE. We managed to raise over €5,000 through the silent auction and a donation from a generous individual so we are delighted about that.” The gala dinner was preceded by a series of high impact panel discussions on the main issues affecting the SEE markets in Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Bulgaria. Speakers and participants agreed that although the market is still difficult in some countries, a brighter outlook is on the horizon for some locations. The EuropaProperty SEE Real Estate Awards for 2012 was sponsored by: Premier Partner: Jones Lang LaSalle, Associate Partner: CA Immo, Award Sponsors: MK Illumination and Manhattan Software Group, Auditor: Ernst & Young Energy Software Partner: IBC International Business Contracts Supporting Partners: RICS, the Association of Green Building Professionals, Green Build Romania, Filipovic, British Romanian Chamber of Commerce, American Chamber of Commerce in Romania, Organizer: EuropaProperty, Venue Partner: Athenee Palace Hilton Bucharest, Charity Partner: Hospice Casa Sperantei, PR-support Partners: United Marketing, Media Partners: The Diplomat Bucharest, IBP, Imopedia, Businesscover, Forbes Romania, Romania-insider, Ziare, Agenda Cauta-Imobiliare, Romania Libera Ziarul Bursa, Constructiv Magazin, Wallstreet, AG, REBEC. (source: http://www.europaproperty.com)
