Grosvenor Place, a joint development of Grosvenor, Asia Standard International and Ayala International, was awarded the 2004 MIPIM (The International Property Market) Award for Residential Developments at the 14th MIPIM Awards Ceremony on March 11 in Cannes, France.
The 29-storey Grosvenor Place in Repulse Bay, Hong Kong, was the first residential development in Asia to receive the MIPIM Award, often referred to as the “Oscar” of the international property industry. The MIPIM Awards recognizes the world’s most remarkable property developments in five categories: business centres, shopping centres, residential developments, refurbished office buildings, and hotel and tourism resorts.
An independent, international jury selected Grosvenor Place and 14 other finalists from among a hundred projects, a record number since the awards were created in 1990. Around 15,000 participants in the MIPIM fair then cast their votes and chose five winners and a special jury awardee.
Managing director of Ayala International Pte Ltd, Charles Cosgrove noted, “Grosvenor Place is the first Asian residential development ever to be awarded such recognition. The whole project speaks of the leadership and the commitment of the venture–Asia Standard, Grosvenor Group and Ayala International–to conceiving and completing a real estate product representing value and timeless quality.”
Lau Cheng Soon, Ayala International’s executive director overseeing Asia, further added, “The recognition affirms Ayala’s commitment to excellence and to quality performance benchmarked against international standards.”
Grosvenor Place bested Armada Housing in the Netherlands and the Arkadien Asperg in Germany in the category, Residential Developments. Designed by Paul Davis and Partners of London, Grosvenor Place is a development of Weststar Enterprises Limited, a joint venture of Grosvenor, Asia Standard International, and Ayala International.
Grosvenor is an international property group with operating companies in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Americas, Europe, the Australia Asia Pacific region. Asia Standard is involved in properties, hotel operations and restaurant chains in both Hong Kong and China. Ayala International is the regional investment arm of Ayala Corporation, a Philippine-based business house whose core industries are real estate, banking, and telecommunications.
Another Ayala development, Ayala Center’s Greenbelt 3, was also a finalist in the shopping centres category. It was the only Philippine entry to make it to the final round this year.
“The MIPIM Awards are the most prestigious distinctions in the property world. It is the ‘Oscars’ the property industry,” noted Werner Welter, former managing director of DB Real Estate Investment GmBH (Germany) and president of the jury of this year’s awards.