Leading London developer Sir Stuart Lipton has been awarded the 2007 Urban Land Institute (ULI) J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development. Lipton is the first non-American to win the $100,000 (EUR 70,500) prize, which honours the legacy of American developer J.C. Nichols, a founding ULI member considered to be one the country's most creative entrepreneurs in land use during the first half of the 1900s.

Leading London developer Sir Stuart Lipton has been awarded the 2007 Urban Land Institute (ULI) J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development. Lipton is the first non-American to win the $100,000 (EUR 70,500) prize, which honours the legacy of American developer J.C. Nichols, a founding ULI member considered to be one the country's most creative entrepreneurs in land use during the first half of the 1900s.

Lipton, deputy chairman of Chelsfield Partners in London, is regarded as a visionary, creative and committed developer who began reshaping London's landscape in 1983 when he set up Stanhope Properties. Under his guidance, the company (co-)developed more than 50 office buildings, providing more than 1.9 million m2 of commercial space in central London and the London environs. Projects include the Stockley Park and Chiswick Park business campuses as well as the Broadgate financial centre in London.

Jury chairman Jeremy Newsum, group chief executive for the Grosvenor Estate in London, praised Lipton's ability to successfully blend his passion for modernism with the architecture of an old city. 'Building in London has always been a process of new development fitting in with the old. Having a view about what is there before creating something new is part of Lipton's make-up. He believes his work must improve the environment, help it adapt and evolve, meet the changing world around it, and be prepared to change again in the future.'

In a reaction, Lipton said: 'If you understand what people like, you can provide the right development with the right services. There is a slight art form in this. It is providing something people like, but have not thought of yet. You have to be a little inventive.'