Taking the High Road to Global Excellence
It’s time for the country’s property developers to pop the champagne once again. Many of them are on their way to compete at the Prix d’ Excellence competition, touted as the “Oscars of Real Estate.”
Indeed, from the many nominated projects to the just-concluded Property and Real Estate Excellence Awards in Manila, 22 have emerged winners and are now eligible to participate in the international competition.
“Prix d’Excellence is organized by the International Real Estate Federation or FIABCI (Fédération Internationale des Administrateurs de Bien-Conselis Immobiliers) to recognize projects that best embody excellence and best practices in architecture and design, development and construction, community benefits, environmental impact and financial and marketing success; it is important that the project illustrates concretely the organization’s ideal of providing society with the optimal solutions to its property needs,” said businessman Reghis Romero II, chairman of its chapter in the Philippines and the country’s special envoy to Japan.
“That’s one of the reasons why FIABCI-Philippines is staging the Property and Real Estate Excellence Awards yearly. We aspire to have our nation’s best projects get the chance to be ranked and lined up with the world’s best and eventually win in any of the various categories of the Prix d’Excellence awards,” Romero II said.
The Prix d’Excellence is awarded by an international panel of judges comprising top real estate professionals and experts in various disciplines so as to determine all the merits of the competing projects and not just their aesthetics, functionality or magnitude.
“Thus, FIABCI-Philippines has adopted the same standards, criteria, categories, project evaluation system, top-level quality of the judges, and the same judging protocols in determining the winners of its Property and Real Estate Excellence Awards. Doing so enhances the chances of our winners in bagging an award in Prix d’Excellence,” FIABCI-Philippines president Arch. Nextor Mangio said.
Gaining a Prix d’Excellence award bestows upon a winner the right to use its coveted and exclusive logo and its unique international platform for exposure to FIABCI’s network of more than 70 member countries and over 120 real estate professional organizations worldwide.
A spotlight on the world’s most excellent projects
“That makes the Prix d’Excellence more than just a contest, but a spotlight on the world’s excellent projects that are a cut above the rest. So, we now have 22 winning projects in 15 categories at the FIABCI-Ph Property and Real Estate Excellence Awards that can be enlisted or nominated to the Prix d’Excellence in 2024,” Romero II added.
The winners
Of the 22 winning projects, 12 are gold winners and 10 silver, with Filinvest REIT Corp. board chairperson and Filinvest Alabang Inc. director, president and chief executive officer Lourdes Josephine Gotianun-Yap emerging as the Property “Woman” of the Year, and Robinsons Land Corp. as the Developer of the Year.
With chairman Romero II and president Mangio in presenting the awards to the winners were FIABCI-World president-elect Budiarsa Sastrawinata and past FIABCI world president and FIABCI chairman emeritus Florentino Dulalia, Jr.
Constituting FIABCI’s international membership are 48 national and multinational chapters, 120 professional associations, 95 public and private academic institutions, over 2,300 regular members, and around a million associate members in more than 70 countries across the globe.
Property Woman of the Year, Developer of the Year
Filinvest REIT Corp. board chairperson and Filinvest Alabang Inc. director, president and chief executive officer Lourdes Josephine Gotianun-Yap emerged as the Property Woman of the Year while Robinsons Land Corp. was named Developer of the Year.
The award given to Gotianun-Yap is a historic first as this is, so far, the only time for the Property Man of the Year award to be given to a woman since 2015, compelling a sudden change in its name, albeit temporarily, to suit the gender of the recipient for such occasion.
Gotianun-Yap’s companies – Filinvest REIT Corp. and Filinvest Alabang Inc. – won a total of three golds and a silver.
The previous winner of the award was Robinsons Land Corp. president and chief executive officer Frederick D. Go, now also presidential adviser on investments and economic affairs.
This time, though, Go went up the stage to receive the Developer of the Year award for Robinsons Land Corp., which also won awards.
Both Go and Gotianun-Yap expressed deep appreciation for the awards as catalysts for improvements and innovations in the property industry.
Smart, sustainable developments
Gotianun-Yap further validated the emerging global trend in developing, not just environment-friendly, but also smart communities where comfort and conveniences include cost-efficient living.
Such a trend can be observed in several gold-winning projects, especially those of the Filinvest Group.