The 2009 Awards will also feature a new overall green building award.
Sponsored by Nedbank Corporate Property Finance, the Awards celebrate the crème de la crème of property developments undertaken by South African developers, both locally and abroad.
“The 2009 Awards include Residential and Mixed-Use categories for the first time to acknowledge the breadth and depth of development skills in SA,” says SAPOA CEO Neil Gopal.
This brings the total number of categories to ten, including: Office, Retail, Industrial, Refurbishments, International, Innovative Property Solutions and developments with a Social or Environmental Impact. An award for Other developments includes leisure and hospitality projects.
Noted property economist and SAPOA national councillor Francois Viruly predicts that the 2009 Awards will no doubt reflect the increased recognition that residential developments have enjoyed in the past year.
“However, as the property cycle moves to favour industrial property, there may be some surprises in this year’s crop of entries,” he adds.
With a sharpened focus on green building in SA and globally, the overall green building award is expected to be a highlight of the 2009 Awards.
“As the sponsor of the award, Nedbank Corporate Property Finance are encouraged to see that the changing trends in the industry are reflected in the awards. What is even more pleasing is the emphasis on sustainability and green building principles across all categories – a value that is aligned to Nedbank’s philosophy as South Africa’s green bank,” explains Nedbank Corporate Property Finance MD Frank Berkeley.
And it’s not just developers that SAPOA is encouraging to go green.
SAPOA is taking steps to make the Awards themselves more environmentally conscious, says John Truter, Chairman of the SAPOA Excellence Awards Committee.
“We’ve consciously streamlined the submissions process, introducing an online system that reduces paper wastage. Judges will be able to view entries online, reducing the carbon footprint related to travel,” he elaborates.
“All in all, the 2009 Awards will be the greenest ones yet.”
