UAE real estate projects won three of the 13 awards for the world’s best real estate projects and those with the most distinctive architecture during a ceremony held at the Conrad Dubai Hotel as part of Cityscape, which concluded last Thursday, while the Middle East region won eight awards, including those from the UAE.

The UAE’s awards included the Al Maliha Archaeological Center in Sharjah winning the Community, Culture, and Tourism Award, and the offices of One Central in Dubai ”Phase 1A2” won the Commercial Real Estate Project Award, while the Bingati Apartments in Dubai won the ”Existing" High-Rise Residential Tower Project Award.

For his part, Christopher Seymour, Regional Development Director and Head of Markets at the Middle East Studies Association at Mott MacDonald and a member of the judging panel, praised the winning Emirati projects,  noting that the award-winning projects were selected by a jury of 16 judges comprising academics, quantity surveyors, senior architects, and sustainability experts.

Commenting on the awards, Christopher Seymour, Regional Development Director and Head of the Middle East Studies Division at Mott MacDonald and a member of the judging panel, said: ”We were particularly impressed by the One Central office complex project and the sheer scale of the team’s ambitions in its planning and execution, which demonstrates the adoption of best practices."

The AED 8 billion project features open-plan offices ranging in size from 290 to 1,921 square meters per floor, and access to multiple rooftop gardens, which is expected to transform the landscape of the Dubai World Trade Centre.

Seymour added: ”The team succeeded in transforming a simple idea into a one-of-a-kind project through the meticulous and flawless execution of the asset management plan, clearly demonstrating that the concept of sustainability was embedded in its business model from the very beginning."