The Urban Land Institute (ULI) has announced six finalists in the 2023 ULI Europe Awards for Excellence, which recognise exemplar built environment projects in the private, public, and non-profit sectors.

The awards celebrate excellence in land use practice across the entire development process, with criteria including factors such as planning, construction, economics, management, sustainability and resiliency, community impact, and architecture and design.

This year’s diverse finalists include office, education, retail, and mixed-use category projects in Belgium, France, Italy, and Portugal, and include cutting-edge refurbishment, development, restoration, new build, and modular projects.

The full list of finalists selected by members of the jury are (alphabetically):

• The Liberty Tower, Milan, Italy (Developer: Hines. Owner: Savills Investment Management SGR – on behalf of Milan Green Fund. Architect: Asti Architetti); a refurbishment project of a 1950’s landmark tower overlooking the iconic Piazza del Liberty in Milan (Mixed Use).
• Mercado do Bolhão, Porto, Portugal (Developer: GO Porto – Gestão e Obras do Porto, EM. Owner: Câmara Municipal do Porto. Architect: Nuno Valentim, Arquitectura, Lda); a project incorporating the restoration and modernisation of an historical market building in the heart of Porto (Retail).
• Morland Mixité Capitale, Paris, France (Developer: EMERIGE. Owner: Nuveen Real Estate. Architect: David Chipperfield (concept architect) and local architect CALQ Architecture); a project aiming to revive and transform the former administrative site of the Préfecture de Paris through restructuring and new construction (Mixed Use).
• MULTI, Brussels, Belgium (Developer: Immobel nv Whitewood nv. Owner: Brouckère Tower Invest nv. Architect: Conix RDBM Architects); a project redeveloping the former PHILIPS headquarters into the first CO2-neutral office building in use in Brussels (Office).
• Scholen van Morgen “Schools of Tomorrow”, Flanders, Belgium (Developer: AG Real Estate COPiD. Owner: DBFM Scholen van Morgen nv. Architect: 72 teams); a public-private partnership of Flemish public authorities, AG Real Estate and BNP Paribas Fortis to design, build and finance 182 school infrastructure projects (Education).
• Stream Building, Paris, France (Developer and Owner: Covivio and Hines. Architect: PCA Stream); a new development seeking to establish a ‘building-manifesto’ for a new way of conceptualising and designing Paris using a modular and adaptable building system (Mixed Use).

The overall winner/s will be revealed in Copenhagen on 11 October at a special dinner taking place during ULI Europe’s C Change Summit, which is part of a ULI-led programme to mobilise the European real estate industry to decarbonise.

A jury, which is made up of real estate leaders from across the built environment, has selected each of the finalists and will next determine the overall winners for the EMEA region. Sophie Henley-Price, Principal, STUDIOS Architecture (France/UK) and ULI Global Trustee chairs the jury, which includes: Clarissa Alfrink, UNStudio (Germany); Sigrid Duhamel, Deepki (France); Karolina Kaim, CEO, Blueprint Group (Poland); Tinka Kleine, PGGM (Netherlands); Jorge Perez de Leza Eguiguren, Metrovacesa, S.A. (Spain); Dan Ringelstein, Arup (UK); Simone Santi, Lendlease (Italy); and Jörn Walter, City of Hamburg (Germany).

“I would like to thank everyone who submitted a project to this year’s competition. The criteria of the ULI awards make it one of the most challenging and rewarding in the market. Both the quality and the diversity of entries attest to this,” said Sophie Henley-Price, Chair of the 2023 ULI Europe Awards for Excellence Jury. “As a jury, it is always exciting to delve into projects that have demonstrated exemplarity, from planning and design to the critical issues surrounding sustainability, resilience, operational leadership, and community impact. We have selected six finalists who have gone the extra mile, pushing established boundaries to propel real estate practices into the future.”

Lars Huber, Chair of ULI Europe, said: “ULI Europe Awards for Excellence finalists showcase transformative projects that have pushed boundaries and are having positive impacts in their communities, neighbourhoods, and cities. They demonstrate best practice in equitable and sustainable land use, and have found great solutions to real estate challenges, all of which ably reflect our own mission at the ULI. We wish all our project teams the very best for the final stage of the competition.”

Lisette van Doorn, ULI Europe CEO, said: “This year’s finalist projects are all strong exemplars contributing to ULI’s mission to shape the future of the built environment for transformative impact worldwide, and in particular to the mission priorities focused on decarbonisation and housing for all. There’s so much we can collectively learn from them in terms of best practice, and there is the potential to replicate those principles across future developments. We wish all the competitors well and look forward to revealing the overall winning projects in October.”

The ULI Europe Awards for Excellence recognises superior development efforts in the private, public, and non-profit sectors. Projects and programmes are evaluated on the extent to which they:

• achieve market acceptance/financial success;
• demonstrate leadership through a high standard of excellence in all areas—architecture, design, planning, construction, amenities, economics, and management, etc.;
• demonstrate relevance to the contemporary and future needs of the community in which they are located;
• have a positive impact in their communities and/or immediate context;
• exhibit environmental sustainability, stewardship, and resiliency; and
• provide models, lessons, strategies, or techniques that can be replicated in or adapted to other communities.

The winning projects in EMEA will automatically be entered into the ULI Global Awards for Excellence.

As well as selecting the overall winners, the jury will also consider “special mentions” for those projects that demonstrate excellence in any of the areas focused on by ULI’s mission priorities: decarbonising the real estate sector and accelerating our progress to net zero; increasing housing attainability in communities around the world; and educating the next generation of diverse real estate leaders.

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For further information about the competition, please visit: https://europe.uli.org/awardsforexcellence/ 

About the Urban Land Institute:

• The Urban Land Institute is a non-profit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to shape the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the institute has over 48,000 members worldwide representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines.

• ULI has almost 5,500 members in Europe across 15 National Council country networks. For more information, please visit uli.org, follow us on Twitter or follow our LinkedIn page.