During last night's glittering ICSC World Summit Gala Dinner held at the Ciragan Palace, Istanbul, on the winners of the 2005 ICSC European Shopping Centre and the Solal Marketing Awards were announced. The winners hailed from all over Europe and represent the very best in shopping centre development and retail marketing.
The ICSC European Shopping Centre Awards are presented annually to the best new and refurbished or extended developments in Europe. This yearâs winners include Olympia Einkaufszentrum, Germany, a newly refurbished centre with 30 new shops earning top place in the Refurbishment and Extension category. Best New Centre (Medium) was given to Stary Browar in Poland, a 27,000sq.m. shopping centre in Poznan. Germanyâs Kamp Promenade, which was created on a site which had been disused since World War II, won the category for New Small Centres and the best New Large Centre winner was the UKâs 109,917sq.m. Bullring in Birmingham.
Shopping Centre Awards Jury Chair, Arcadio Gil-Pujol comments: âThe level of entries was again pleasingly high this year. The Jury members have been surprised and delighted to see how many advances the European centres are making in terms of concept, merchandising and design, and that all of them present an excellent balance between commercial strength, urban role, architectonic features and financial strength.â
The winners of the Shopping Centre Awards qualify for automatic entry to the International Design and Development Awards at CenterBuild in December 2005.
This year also saw the launch of the innovative ReStore prize, presented in recognition of effective public private collaboration across a number of European, retail-led urban regeneration schemes. Awarded to both the developer and the local authority, ReStore is designed to honour shopping centre developments that have been integral to the overall redevelopment of city centre life.
Winners of the 2005 ReStore prize were the Municipality of Enschede in The Netherlands and joint developers Foruminvest BV and Prowinko Groep for the successful development of Klanderij Centre.
Commenting on the inclusion of ReStore in the awards programme, Jury Chair Arcadio Gil-Pujol adds: âA large number of declining city centres throughout Europe have the opportunity to benefit from the revitalization of shopping centres and the retail activity that this will bring. Launching such a unique prize as this, we have the opportunity to honour excellent examples of public private partnerships highlighting the benefits of adopting this joint approach for future inner-city redevelopments throughout our European towns and cities.â
ICSC Europeâs Solal Marketing Awards are presented to shopping centres which have achieved professional recognition for the imaginative and effective marketing campaigns developed by its marketing professionals. Germanyâs CentrO Oberhausen stole the evening, winning both the Leasing Support and the Public Relations categories with its âShopping and Much, Much Moreâ and âIce Sculpture Festivalâ campaigns, respectively.
UKâs Meadowhall centre walked away with the Centre Productivity Award for the Arc at Meadowhall and the Fields of Shopping campaign won the Opening, Refurbishment or Extention category for Fields Shopping Centre in Denmark.
Finalists in the Community Relations, Consumer Advertising and Sales Promotion categories were all awarded Merits, but no clear winners were declared. Winners of the Solal Marketing Awards also qualify for automatic entry to the ICSC MAXI Awards, the most prestigious international retail marketing competition within the shopping centre industry in October 2005.
Solal Marketing Awards, Joint Chair of the Awards Jury and head of retail marketing for UK-based Donaldsons Europe, Eileen Connolly comments: âThe ICSC Solal Marketing Awards reward the achievement of a shopping centreâs goals through innovative marketing using all available resources.
âThis yearâs winning campaigns were simply outstanding and show that shopping ce
