Jeddah dominates first Cityscape Saudi awards

The awards were presented at a gala dinner held last night in Jeddah in the presence of international investors, developers, government and investment authorities, leading architects and key industry decision makers.

"Across all of the awards above all we wanted to recognise projects that had innovative and sustainable design, functionality with efficiency and we wanted to reward designs that showed cultural as well as environmental sensitivity,"

said Deep Marwaha, Exhibition Director, Cityscape Saudi Arabia.

The awards were split into five categories, Best Waterfront Development - Future; Best Commercial Retail - built; Best Commercial Retail - Future; Residential Project - Future and Best Urban Design & Master Planning Award.

The judges who consisted of Alan Hall, a Special Counsel in the Riyadh office of leading regional law firm Al Tamimi & Company; Dr Aly Khorshid, Islamic Finance Scholar & Shariah Consultant & Director of Islamic studies at Academy UK.org; Jurgen E. Herre, Head of Hines Middle East and North Africa and R. Veronica Mendieta, Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer of the internationally renowned Developers & Builders Alliance.

The Best Waterfront Development - Future Award was claimed by EMAAR, The Economic City, the master planner and developer of King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC). It was in recognition of their stunning waterfront village Bay La Sun Residential City which is being designed to be a complete social unit with homes, schools, medical facilities, offices, shopping and entertainment all integrated into one community.

The Best Residential - Future Award also went to EMAAR, The Economic City for the Hawadi district development within King Abdullah Economic City. The 870 Hectare community will host the first mid-income development within KAEC and comprises 22,000 dwelling units and the associated religious, educational, health and civic facilities.

Other award winning projects included the Al Ajlan Tower project in Riyadh, the Al Andalus Mall in Jeddah which was considered the best 'built' retail development and US architect Davis Brody Bond Aedas for their comprehensive design contributions to the Jeddah redevelopment master plan.

The awards were sponsored by world leader in LED Mediafacade concept and design, Citiled and supported by the Royal Institute for Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

"With over 800 active real estate projects worth in excess of $500bn, Saudi Arabia will witness dramatic change over the next 5 years and beyond, especially in Jeddah. Citiled chose to sponsor the Cityscape Saudi Arabia Real Estate Awards as we realize that this event has now set the benchmark for future developments in the Kingdom to follow,"

said Gustavo Eli, President of Citiled.

Cityscape Saudi Arabia closes today after featuring over 100 exhibiting companies showcasing their current and future projects to more than 5000 key investors and real estate professionals.