And then there were 30

The first thing that strikes you when you look at the list of categories for the Eurobuild Awards 2011 is that there are a lot of them - 30 in total. The reason why there are so many is that we want to cover every major type of profession in the property market

At last year's gala, our main concern was that the awards presentation part of the ceremony would last too long, with 21 categories. This worry proved to be unfounded. The first winner to be presented with an award, Brian O'Brien of PwC, was very quick and to the point with his thanks and acknowledgements and this set the tone for the other winners. We completed the prize-giving in good time.
However, after last year's gala we were approached by architects, construction firms, property management companies, facility management companies and engineering consultancies, all asking why there hadn't been a category for them. Ok, our offices weren't besieged and our phone lines didn't collapse under the weight of angry callers, but at least one person from each of these professions came to us, their point being: "Why is there a category for law firms/lenders/agencies, but not for us? Are we not important?" So we took the point, added them in, and that's the reason why we're not short of a few categories this year.

Apples and lemons
Most of the categories cover Poland only, like last year. This is because it's essential to judge apples with apples, not apples with bananas or lemons, to distort a cliché. This is not to imply that lemons are developed in other CEE countries, but simply that it's difficult to compare a shopping centre in Poland with a shopping centre in Romania or Slovakia. Market conditions vary and property cycles are at different stages. It's also not easy to find enough jury members with the breadth of knowledge and experience to properly judge the strengths and weaknesses of an office agency team or a law firm or construction company, for example, across the whole region. So where we feel that a category can't adequately be compared or judged across national borders, we've kept it to Poland only. There are, however, some categories where we feel comparisons can be made across the region. These include the developer categories, Office, Retail and Warehouse Developer of the Year CEE', where jury members made up of regional directors of banks, consultancies and law firms, amongst others, have the knowledge and perspective to make a judgment as to which office, retail or warehouse developer they feel is the most prominent and successful within each of the commercial sectors in Central and Eastern Europe this year. For these categories, indeed for all the categories, the important thing is to keep a sense of perspective. We believe that winning a prize at the Eurobuild Awards is prestigious, and we also believe that, by and large, the best rise to the top and are recognised. However, it is not the be-all-and-end-all. The jury may get it wrong, objectively speaking. But as has been said many times, perception of success is more than half the battle. At the Eurobuild Awards no-one loses. Companies or projects are profiled publicly on our website, and one company or project wins the category in question. With the Eurobuild Awards format as it is, we do not believe in making a ranking. Rankings, when done thoroughly and perceptively, can be a very positive influence on a market, showing who's performing and who's not, and giving clues as to why this is the case. The ranking forms a benchmark for clients, consultants, investors, partners, and for the companies themselves. But rankings have to be carried out by dedicated experts who analyse lots of data and influencing factors. With the Eurobuild Awards, we are asking jury members to make judgments based on short descriptive texts and basic information supplied by the company or project in question, but most importantly on their own market knowledge. It's not comprehensive enough to relegate a company or project to the bottom of the list, thereby potentially doing great harm to their reputations. If a ranking's going to be done, it's got to be done with no margin of error.

Your market needs YOU!
Other CEE-wide categories include the 'RICS Regeneration Award'. The jury for this category will be made up only of Members or Fellows of RICS, who will be judging buildings which were previously disused or neglected and have this year been returned to use. Last year the category covered Poland only and the winner was the Manufaktura retail and cultural centre in Łódź, transformed from the post-war shell of the pre-war textile powerhouse by Apsys into a thriving retail and cultural destination. This year we want to spread the net wider. Both 'Green' categories also cover the whole region. As I wrote in the previous issue of this magazine, we're covering both developers and tenants as a building can't be greener-than-green if only one of the two parties is committed to sustainability while the other is not. In this field, it definitely takes two to tango and tenants have a big part to play. The final two CEE categories are somewhat experimental. For the 'Outstanding Market Achievement of the Year' award, we want to highlight individuals in the market who have shown real dedication or originality, or achieved or contributed something above the ordinary in the CEE real estate market. It could be an amazing deal or a new method of construction or engineering, a major legal problem solved or a development steered through against the odds. Outside the market, there's the 'Outstanding Non-Business Achievement of the Year' award. Don't be fooled by the unsexy title. We're looking to put the spotlight on individuals or groups in the market who do amazing things outside of their professional lives, things like raising money for charity, dedication to a cause or accomplishing something exceptional. The thing about these last two awards is that those who merit recognition will not want to nominate themselves, the type of person they are and human nature being as it is. So we're relying on you reading this article (yes, you - don't look away!) to think about who should be nominated. We know that extraordinary people work in our market and we just want to bring them out into the sunshine. Who do you know or who have you heard about who deserves to be recognised? Please let us know. The nominees for these two categories will be profiled in the December edition of Eurobuild CEE magazine and the winners will be chosen on the night of the gala by the gala attendees. The other 'people's vote' category is the 'Architectural Design of the Year, Poland' award. This could have been regional but, with the majority of the audience being Polish operating in Poland, we fear that they may be a bit biased towards projects in Poland. Or are we doing them a disservice? Maybe we should make it regional? We'll have to do a bit more consulting on this one. Anyway, whether in Poland or in the wider region, construction work must have started on the designed project in 2011.
So these are just some of the categories making up the Eurobuild Awards 2011. For a full list please turn to the next page. To judge many of the categories - the so-called 'market awards' - we're looking for jury members. To be a jury member you need to know the category in question very well and you should be the most senior person in your company covering the particular sector or profession: a department head, a director or above. Profiles and photos of all jury members will be posted on www.eurobuildawards.com and in the gala catalogue. There won't be any jury meetings. Instead KPMG, who are overseeing the voting process, will send the voting forms electronically. If you'd like to enquire about registering as a jury member, please contact me at richard@eurobuildcee.com

Richard Stephens