The complete 2017 shortlist for the fifth annual PropertyGuru Philippines Property Awards was announced Thursday, featuring previous winners and up-and-coming developers from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
Spanning the residential, commercial and design sectors, the final shortlist is led by 2016 Best Developer winner Megaworld Corporation, which is known for pioneering the integrated urban township concept in the country.
Presented by title sponsor Kohler, this year’s competition will collect a total of 25 official nominations. Megaworld projects are competing against each other in various categories, including Best Luxury Condo Development and Best High End Condo Development for Metro Manila, Best Retail Development, and Best Residential Architectural Design.
Developers Robinsons Land Corporation and ArthaLand are joined by The Philippine American Life and General Insurance Company (Philam Life) in second place with five nods each. Philam Life, currently the largest insurance firm in the country, made the cut for its long-awaited office building located in Cebu Business Park.
New categories
The fifth edition of Awards is opening doors to new categories in the expanded 2017 programme. For the first time, the panel of judges will honor developments that incorporate universal design elements.
“Universal design is the design of a built environment that can be accessed, understood and used to the greatest extent possible by all people regardless of their age, size, ability or disability,” explained Terry Blackburn, managing director of the PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards.
A total of 89 entries were received this year, following a six-month nomination and judging process supervised by BDO, one of the world’s largest accountancy and auditing firms.
Winners will be revealed at a black-tie gala dinner and awards presentation ceremony on May 4 at the Fairmont Makati.
Department of Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo will be giving the opening keynote address, and discuss the impact of the country’s tourism sector on the rapidly-growing real estate market.
Personality of the year
A special award will be also be presented to Robinsons Land Corporation president Frederick D. Go at the awards night. He was chosen by the editors of Property Report magazine as the 2017 Philippines Real Estate Personality of the Year for “leading the company that transforms people’s dreams into reality through real estate projects that last generations.”
Main competition category country winners in the Philippines will advance to the two-day PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards grand finale this November at the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Singapore.
