Swedish real estate developer and construction firm Skanska dominated the annual industry awards for commercial real estate in New Europe, picking up five awards for the second year running at last night’s CEEQA Gala in the presence of more than 600 business leaders and senior industry professionals from more than 40 countries, as legendary entertainer Kim Wilde rolled back the years with a stunning show and young Polish star Natalia Sikora stole the limelight.
Skanska Commercial Development Europe scooped the awards for Developer of the Year and Green Leadership for the second year in succession, as well as Overall Company of the Year and the award for Industry Professional of the Year for company president Nicklas Lindberg, while Skanska SA took home the award for Construction Company of the Year also for the second year in succession. The awards add to their two RealGreen Awards won at CEEQA@Mipim in March, making a total of seven CEEQA 2014 awards in one year.
The eleventh edition of the sector’s flagship event was attended by Paul Gheysens, founder and president of Belgian developer Ghelamco, who joined a long line of regional and international real estate legends in accepting the CEEQA award for Lifetime Achievement in Real Estate.
The sector’s main industry awards are for business achievement across 18 countries in Central & Eastern Europe and Southeast Europe and are organised by CEE Insight Forum in association with the Financial Times to recognise business excellence in commercial real estate investment and to showcase the achievements of the sector to the international investment arena. The awards are judged by a panel of senior representatives of market leading companies active across the New Europe arena.
Other major company award winners on the night were Tristan Capital (Investor of the Year and joint overall Company of the Year, Prologis (Industrial Developer), Helaba (Lender of the Year) and Dentons (Legal & Financial Services), Arcadis EC Harris (Development Services), ECE Projektmanagement (Property Management) while Balmain Asset Management was named Rising Star, In the Agent Award categories JLL picked up awards for Office Agency and Capital Markets, Cushman & Wakefield was named Retail & Leisure Agency and Colliers International was named Industrial Agency of the Year.
In the building awards section Floreasca Park in Prague (Portland Trust) and Florentinum in Prague (Penta Investments) were jointly named Office Development of the Year, the Retail Development of the Year and overall Building of the Year in CEE was Galeria Katowicka in Katowice (Neinver), overall Building of the Year SEE was Promenada in Floreasca City, Bucharest (Raiffeisen Evolution) and Bristol Hotel Odessa in Ukraine won the Hotel, Leisure & Residential Development of the Year award.
Source: CEEQA
