Parkridge's mixed-use development at Dickens Heath Village Centre, Solihull has been selected as one of eleven finalists in the Urban Land Institute's (ULI) Awards for Excellence: Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) competition, widely recognized as the land use industry's most prestigious recognition program.
The competition is part of the Institute's Awards for Excellence program, established in 1979, which is based on ULI's guiding principlethat 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 viability.
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. The ULI Awards for Excellence: Europe (now EMEA) was added in 2004, followed by the ULI Awards for Excellence: Asia Pacific and the Global Awards in 2005. 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.
Dickens Heath Village Centre is 4.5-hectare mixed-use development in the heart of the Solihull countryside designed to be a living village rather than 'just' a housing estate. Dickens Heath features residential, commercial, community and leisure uses in a development sensitive to its rural surroundings and incorporating a nature reserve and village green.
The 2009 finalists were selected from 39 entries from 17 countries. The winners of the competition will be announced May 27 at ULI EMEAI's Trends Conference in Vienna, Austria. Parkridge is one of just three UK developers nominated for this year's ULI awards. The other finalists (developers in parentheses) are:
- Akaretler Row Houses / W Hotel, (Akaretler Turizm Yatirimlari A.ª), Istanbul, Turkey
- American University in Cairo New Campus, (AUC), Cairo, Egypt
- Barrow Street, (Fabrizia Developments Ltd), Dublin, Ireland
- Cabot Circus, (Bristol Alliance, a joint venture between Land Securities and Hammerson), Bristol, UK
- Elm Park, (Radora Developments Ltd), Dublin, Ireland
- Eos Generali, (Bouygues Immobilier), Paris, France
- Hilton Tower, (The Beetham Organization), Manchester, UK
- Leoben Judicial Complex, (BIG-Services, Immobilienmanagementgesellschaft des Bundes mbH), Leoben, Austria
- Liverpool One, (Grosvenor), Liverpool, UK
- Mountain Dwellings, (Hoepfner and Danish Oil Company), Copenhagen, Denmark
The 2009 ULI Awards for Excellence: EMEAI finalists were selected by a jury of renowned land use development and design experts: Ian D. Hawksworth, managing director, Capital & Counties, London; Patrick Albrand, managing director, Hines France, Paris; Max Barclay, head of communications and internal operations, Stronghold Invest AB, Stockholm; Luca de Ambrosis Ortigara, partner, Realty Partners SRL, Milan; Andrew Gould, head of professional and advisory, Jones Lang LaSalle, London; Hakan Kodal, president and chief executive officer, KREA Gayrimenku/Real Estate, Istanbul; Dr. Karsten von Koeller, chairman of Lone Star Germany and non-executive director and member of the investment committee, W.P. Carey LLC, Frankfurt.
The jury was challenged by the large number of applications and the high quality of the projects, which struck the judges as particularly significant in the current economic environment. According to Jury Chairman Hawksworth, the awards finalists illustrate that well-designed, well-built projects can thrive even in dark economic times. "These are great examples of success that showcase creativity, innovation, and long-term thinking," Hawk
