On Thursday August 25th, Thailand Property Awards judges from around the country met in Bangkok for their final meeting to decide who would win the coveted awards. Four days later at a press conference held at Bangkok’s Plaza Athenee Hotel the shortlisted winners were announced. Making the shortlist means competitors are assured a “Highly Commended” if not winning the top prize.
This year, a strong mix of boutique and large-scale luxury projects made the cut.
Pace Development, MQDC Magnolia Quality Development Corporation, Minor International and boutique firm Lucky Living Properties are just a few of the top contenders in the biggest real estate awards programme in the Kingdom, the 11th Thailand Property Awards 2016, presented by Hansgrohe and organised by PropertyGuru Group, Asia’s leading online property group.
More than 200 developments entered this year – up 32 percent from 2015 – and after a 7 hour marathon meeting, the independent panel of judges whittled down the list to 36 companies who will compete in 33 award categories.
Leading with nine nominations is MQDC, which was Highly Commended in the Best Developer category in 2015, the landmark 10th anniversary of the Awards. This year, MQDC is competing in the expanded luxury condominium categories, including Best Ultra Luxury Condo Development (Bangkok) for The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok and Best Luxury Condo Development (Bangkok) for Magnolias Waterfront Residences at ICONSIAM.
Elsewhere in the Kingdom, emerging and established developers are competing in the residential/housing/villa categories in the popular holiday destinations of Phuket, Chiang Mai, Hua Hin, Samui, Phang Nga/Krabi, and the Eastern Seaboard.
“2016 has been the most challenging year since I joined the central judging panel in 2014,” according to Suphin Mechuchep, managing director at Jones Lang LaSalle (Thailand), and chairperson of the judges.
“There were a total of 214 of entries, a significant increase from 163 last year. All of the judges spent a lot more time and effort than previous years on entry reviews and site visits. But it has also been a great experience as we have had excellent opportunities to meet with many interesting property developers as well as designers and architects who are involved in these projects.”
In the awards programme’s 11-year history, the Thailand Property Awards have gathered the top experts in the fields of real estate development, advisory, consultancy, management, architecture and design to sit on the esteemed judging panel. Presiding the jurors this year is returning judge Dr Manop Bongsadadt, renowned professor of architecture at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University and president of the 2016 judging panel.
To ensure fairness and transparency for which the Thailand Property Awards is known, BDO, one of the world’s largest accounting and auditing firms, supervised the entire nomination period, site visits, and the meticulous judging process up until the judges’ final deliberations on the 25th.
Winners will be revealed during the exclusive, black-tie gala dinner on Thursday, 22 September, at the prestigious Plaza Athenee Bangkok, a Royal Meridien hotel. An estimated 600 industry-leading figures and top real estate executives are expected to join the event which will be graced by this year’s VIP guest, Khun Suwat Liptapanlop, former Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand.
In Hua Hin, the shortlisted developments were La Bua Resort & Residence by Nordic Home Co Ltd, Falcon Hill by Falcon Hill Development Limited and Smart House Valley Development by Suppagarn Real Estate Service Co Ltd.
A special, new category was created by the National Judges Panel for Hua Hin, that being the Best Luxury Villa Development (Hua Hin) with Maha Samutr by PACE Development taking that category. According to Russ Downing, Hua Hin head judge, “After a lengthy debate the judges came to the conclusion that a new category should be added that was a better fit for Maha Samutr. The Ultra-Luxe development deserved to compete with other Ultra luxurious projects in South East Asia, as opposed to locally in Hua Hin.”