28-Sep-2010

The Middle East’s largest private luxury developer, DAMAC Properties, has won three prestigious ‘Arabian Property Awards.’ It’s the fifth year in a row DAMAC has been successful in the high profile awards, which aim to recognise the best residential and commercial real estate professionals across the globe.

“DAMAC Properties entered 3 categories, and we were successful in all three” said Niall Mc Loughlin, Senior Vice President of DAMAC Properties. “These are globally recognised accolades of excellence, and the fact that DAMAC Properties won an award in each category we entered, is a reflection on our commitment to providing superior quality developments across the Middle East and beyond” he added.

DAMAC Properties received two awards for its landmark ‘DAMAC Tower’ development, in collaboration with VERSACE Home, in Lebanon. DAMAC Tower was successful in the categories of “Best High Rise Architecture’ and ‘Best Interior Design. ’ DAMAC Tower was launched in June and is the first exclusive VERSACE Home branded residential tower in the region. Situated in the elite marina area of the new Solidere development in Beirut, DAMAC Tower has extensive views of the Mediterranean. The spectacular flowing curves and undulating volumes of the 28 storey building were designed to emulate the surging waves of the ocean. “DAMAC Tower is a majestic development which strikes a balance between technology and luxury without compromising on style and aesthetic appeal. This innovative collaboration between DAMAC Properties and VERSACE Home will deliver to residents the luxurious Italian lifestyle concept” McLoughlin said.

DAMAC Properties website, www.damacproperties.com, was also recognized in the Arabian Property Awards. The new corporate website was launched in August. The site was totally redesigned to embrace the latest web technology including state-of-the-art navigation and browsers to enable the most user-friendly interface for customers. Mr McLoughlin commented “Customers can now log-on to the website, see live movie images of views from DAMAC’s signature Ocean Heights and Marina Terrace developments at Dubai Marina, and a 3D look at DAMAC Tower in Beirut, with interiors by Versace Home.”

The judging of the Arabian Property Awards, in conjunction with Bloomberg Television, was carried out by an esteemed panel of judges at Bloomberg’s London offices. This year’s judges included Luke McKend, industry head property markets of Google UK; Peter Bolton King, group chief executive of the National Federation of Property Professionals; Christopher Hall, president elect of FIABCI; Thijs Stoffer, International Consortium of Real Estate Agents Association (ICREA); Fiona Nixon, chairman of the Australia Institute of Architects, Hendrik Nelde, president of FIABCI Belgium; Helen Shield, editor-in-chief of International Homes Luxury Collection magazine and Sven Johns, CEO of the German Real Estate Association.

Many new countries submitted entries for the first time this year, including Libya, Tunisia, Sudan and Algeria. President of the International Property Awards Stuart Shield comments, “It really is gratifying to see new countries submitting entries again this year. The competition is as fierce as ever with the standards being set for quality and innovation as well as ecological and technological elements of design rising ever higher. It is always a pleasure to study the Arabian entries because of the scale of their endeavors. There will be a long lasting legacy of world-class buildings across the Middle East which will be there for future generations to enjoy.”

The awards will be presented at an official gala dinner at the Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai, on October 26th. Later this year, top-scoring winners from the Arabian Property Awards will compete against other successful companies from Asia Pacific, the UK, the Americas, Europe and Africa to find the ultimate ‘World’s Best’ in each category. Interestingly, Arabian entrants have an excellent record in achieving these internationally contested awards. Last year a staggering 20% of all Worlds’ Best winners were from Arabia.