The most illustrious developers, developments and designs in the Asia Pacific were celebrated at the highly-anticipated Property Guru Asia Property Awards on the 22nd of November. Celebrating its 14th anniversary, the awards were presented by Kohler at the Athenee Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand.
For its 14th anniversary, the PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards expanded the Grand Final to 30 categories, specifying more precise achievements in landscape architectural design, condo interior design, township master planning, CBD (central business district) development, and green building.
The evening saw 150 nominees, representing major winning titleholders from PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards’ series that took place in 2019, put on their strongest front to be named “Best in Asia.”
Singaporean development giant UOL Group Limited bested nine companies around the region for the most coveted trophy of Best Developer in Asia. It was a strong showing overall for Singapore at the Grand Final, with developers from the city-state claiming seven regional wins. Singapore claimed seven out of 30 awards on the night including the most coveted award of the night, Best Developer in Asia presented to UOL Group. The developer’s MeyerHouse project in District 15, won the Asian title for Best Low Rise Condo Interior Design and Best Condo Landscape Architectural Design.
“We’re very glad for each and every participant because each one of us took home not just an award, each one of us took home an idea of how the industry has been evolving over the years,” said Liam Wee Sin, group chief executive of UOL Group Limited, as he accepted the highest accolade of the night.
Indonesia and Philippines followed through with four regional awards each. Indonesia’s Triniti Land won Best Boutique Developer (Asia). Notably, Indonesian developer ASTRA Property & Hongkong Land won the coveted regional prize of Best Luxury Condo Development (Asia) for Anandamaya Residences. The Philippines won honours of Best CBD Development (Asia) and Best Township Masterplan Design (Asia).
Meanwhile, Vietnam gained three regional titles, including the sought-after honour of Best Township Development (Asia) for Kien A Corporation. The highlighted honor of the Property Guru Award was presented to the executive officer of CapitaLand Vietnam, Chen Lian Pang. Only the second recipient of the title in the Awards’ 14-year history, Chen Lian Pang was named Real Estate Personality of the Year at the 2016 PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards for demonstrating over 30 years of excellence in property development and construction.
“This is not my own achievement of leadership but also the efforts of those who have supported me over my career in real estate, especially management, colleagues and staff of CapitaLand, who have shared the same vision as I have,” said Chen Lian Pang.
Thailand took two regional wins while Cambodia, Myanmar and Malaysia took one regional title each. Around 50 country awards had been presented leading to the Grand Final ceremonies. These include Moncon Construction winning Best Residential Architectural Design for Mandala Tower at the second edition of the PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards (Mongolia). Titleholders from the PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau) went on to score four regional wins altogether at the Grand Final, while those that won at the PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards (Australia) and PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards (Sri Lanka) scored one regional title each.
Hari V. Krishnan, CEO of PropertyGuru Group, said: “We run PropertyGuru as a Values-based organisation and one core value which inspires us is to create what’s next. Nothing gives us more pride than honouring the projects and property stakeholders that push for excellence. These aspirational properties are not just homes; they are townships within cities, verdant landscapes, hotels with amazing amenities, climate-saving structures, innovative workspaces, and more. Alongside these benchmark-setting properties and partners, we hope to enter the 2020s soaring higher as we enter a new phase of our growth.”
Prior to the Grand Final, the Awards had presented more than 330 awards and gathered more than 3,220 guests across eight gala dinners and other awarding ceremonies in various Asian cities since April this year. Around 500 guests and members of the media attended the 14th PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards Grand Final, a collocated event of the two-day PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit. Both events were part of the PropertyGuru Week that began with Road to Gold, a tour of Asia Property Award-winning properties in Bangkok.
Winning entries of the 14th PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards Grand Final were chosen by an independent jury comprising head judges of the participating markets, which were; the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and Macau, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar.
One of the world’s largest auditing and accountancy firms, BDO, ensured the transparency, fairness and credibility of every step of the judging process. Paul Ashburn, Co-Managing Partner at BDO in Thailand, led the supervision of the 2019 PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards Grand Final.
Jules Kay, managing director of the PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards, said: “Creating what’s next is etched into the ethos of the PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards. It has always been our goal to see Asia’s most respected real estate honours ascend to new heights, and never has an upward trajectory been more visible than at this 14th year of the Asia Property Awards Grand Final.”