Two French projects and one Polish scheme have been selected as the most outstanding urban developments in Europe out of a shortlist of five finalists, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) announced on Friday.
The 2022 Urban Land Institute (ULI) Europe Awards for Excellence recognise projects that achieve excellence in land use practice, from planning and construction to economic viability, management, and community impact, as well as design.
Latitude, Courbevoie (Paris) (developer and owner: Generale Continentale Investissements, architect: Studios Architecture) is a remodelled and extended 1970s office building.
Located in the La Défense business district, it is among the top 15% of office buildings in France with the least energy consumption per m2.
MÉCA (Maison de l’Economie Creatives et de la Culture en Aquitaine) in Bordeaux (developer and owner: Region Nouvelle-Aquitaine, architects: BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group; Freaks freearchitects; Lafourcade-Rouquette Architectes) is a centre for contemporary art that brings together three institutions.
For its part, the Norblin Factory in Warsaw, Poland (developer and owner: Capital Park Group, architect: PRC Architekci) is a multifunctional complex with state-of-the-art offices plus cultural, leisure and retail offerings.
Lars Huber, chair of ULI Europe, said: ‘The winners of the ULI Europe Awards for Excellence are all exemplary projects that deserve to be celebrated. All the projects have pushed boundaries and made an outstanding contribution to the communities, neighbourhoods, and cities in which they reside.’
Sophie Henley-Price, principal and managing director, Studios Architecture, Paris, France, and chair of the jury, commented: ‘The winners of this year’s ULI Europe Awards for Excellence exhibited a commitment to best practices and sustainability as well as a dedication to building more inclusive cities through community engagement, contextual design and innovation. These projects go above and beyond in furthering ULI's mission worldwide and should be celebrated across the real estate community in the EMEA region.’
Lisette van Doorn, ULI Europe CEO, added: ‘The sharing of knowledge and best practices is core to achieving ULI’s mission. Each of the winners has set a strong benchmark which other industry players can learn from and use as inspiration. And this also applies to the finalists.’
The winners, selected by a jury of real estate leaders from across the sector, will automatically be nominated for the 2022 Global Awards for Excellence, to be announced next week.
