CVEA president Sorn Seap (second left), PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards general manager Jules Kay (second right) and other industry veterans pose for a photo on the occasion of the opening of nominations for the 2023 PropertyGuru Cambodia Property Awards. PROPERTYGURU ASIA PROPERTY AWARDS
Singapore-based property tech firm PropertyGuru Group Ltd has selected Cambodia as the first jurisdiction to host a local edition of its annual Property Awards in 2023, in mid-August, with the PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards Grand Final scheduled for early December in Bangkok, Thailand.
The Kingdom’s local edition, the PropertyGuru Cambodia Property Awards, was first held in 2016, and this year will be the eighth iteration. “The search [begins] anew for the Kingdom’s finest property developers, design practices, and projects: the Gold Standard of real estate,” PropertyGuru said in a statement.
The call for nominations for the 2023 PropertyGuru Cambodia Property Awards runs from February 23 to May 12, with site inspections to be carried out from May 29 to June 16, before the final judging on June 20 followed by the gala dinner and local awards ceremony on August 18, the company said.
Winners of the national awards will be eligible to compete at the regional level at the 18th edition of the grand final on December 8, it said.
“Established in 2005, the PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards continue to reward high-calibre work within the industry, encompassing property development, construction, architecture, interior design, and sustainable building practices,” it added.
The jurisdictions hosting local awards ceremonies organised by PropertyGuru this year are – in order by date – Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, mainland China, northern Japan’s Greater Niseko area, India, Hong Kong, and Macau, according to asiapropertyawards.com.
Jurisdictions with established subprogrammes that will not host local awards this year are the Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar and Sri Lanka, the site indicates, noting that the latest years that these four countries held their respective events were 2021, 2019, 2020 and 2022, respectively – all different, in an interesting coincidence.
'Fully transparent'
“Eligible entries are rigorously selected by the independent panel of judges, comprising experts in diverse fields such as real estate consultancy, architecture and interior design, and sustainable development,” the statement said.
“Supervised by HLB, the global network of independent advisory and accounting firms, the awards programme makes full use of a professionally run and fully transparent judging system, with an established reputation for fairness and transparency,” it added.
The website noted that Cambodian Valuers and Estate Agents Association (CVEA) president Sorn Seap will once again chair the local panel, which comprises the same 10 people as last year.
At a February 23 ceremony marking the opening of registrations, Seap commented that well-performing construction and real estate sectors in general catalyse improvements in tourism and economic growth, and underlined the value of effective promotional efforts for the two fields as the market gradually recovers from Covid-19.
He assured that the panel’s experts will make “accurate and transparent” judgements when it comes to each project, while also noting that a lawyer is set to be one of the judges – whom the website lists as renowned commercial arbitrator Lim Veasna, a partner and attorney-at-law at Vinaya Law Firm.
Seap, who is also Key Real Estate Co Ltd founding director, voiced enthusiasm over the chance offered by the “special” event for Cambodia’s most outstanding projects to go head-to-head with their counterparts in other Asian jurisdictions, pointing out that honours are up for grabs in “more than 30” categories.
PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards general manager Jules Kay stated that the Cambodian edition is back with more vigour than ever before amid a post-Covid global travel and economic resurgence.
The Cambodian construction and real estate sectors are growing quite rapidly, in comparison to their regional counterparts, he remarked.
Achievements
The PropertyGuru statement also looked back on some of the Cambodian construction and real estate community’s achievements at the awards last year.
“Prince Real Estate Group won the sought-after Best Developer award as well as the title for Best Mixed Use Developer at the 7th PropertyGuru Cambodia Property Awards 2022.
“The developer also clinched the honour of Best Mixed Use Development for Prince International Plaza and the Best Housing Masterplan Design award for One Tropica.
“Cambodia was well represented last year, garnering regional titles at the 17th PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards Grand Final, with wins for Kambujaya Development Co Ltd, which received the Best Breakthrough Developer [Asia] award, and Vue Aston by The Peninsula Capital Co Ltd named Best Waterfront Condo Development [Asia],” it said.
The CVEA’s Seap added in the statement: “The PropertyGuru Cambodia Property Awards have been a significant contributor to the country’s real estate sector. Through this international platform, more and more projects are becoming competitive in terms of architectural design, construction quality, and technology.
“Winning awards from the PropertyGuru Cambodia Property Awards will increase developers’ reputation and buyer confidence, provide them more credibility, and give them the chance to showcase their accomplishments and innovations not only in Cambodia but also the rest of Southeast Asia,” he said.
The statement noted that the 8th PropertyGuru Cambodia Property Awards are supported by “gold sponsor” CBRE Cambodia, the local affiliate of US commercial real estate services and investment firm CBRE Group Inc; “official magazine” Property Report by PropertyGuru; “official publicity partner” Two Way PR Co Ltd; and “official supervisor” HLB.
