THREE exceptional developments were selected as winners and a fourth highly commended in the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) Awards for Excellence: Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) competition, widely recognised as the land use industry’s most prestigious recognition programme.

The three winning developments were ENER[GIE]NGER (Munich, Germany), Perseo (Milan, Italy) and The Triangle Building at Wolverton Park, (Milton Keynes, UK). In addition the King Abdullah University, (Thuwal, Saudi Arabia) was highly commended by the jury.

The competition is part of the institute’s Awards for Excellence programme, established in 1979, which is based on ULI’s guiding principle that the achievement of excellence in land use practice should be recognised and rewarded. The awards recognise the full development process of a project, not just its architecture or design. The criteria for the awards include leadership, contribution to the community, innovations, public/private partnership, environmental protection and enhancement, response to societal needs and financial viability.

The winners were announced during the ULI Europe Trends Conference in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

KAUST (King Abdullah University), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia was developed by  Aramco and the architect was HOK. It is situated on the coast of the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia on a 55-million-sq-ft campus. The university was established by an independent board of directors to contribute to scientific and technological advancement in the country. The project moved from conception to completion in only 30 months and combines the teaching campus with a business incubator and research park, being one of the first universities to do so.