Six impressive developments from around the world have been selected as winners of the 2022 Urban Land Institute (ULI) Global Awards for Excellence. Among them is Norblin Factory from the portfolio of the Capital Park Group. It is a multifunctional project located in the Warsaw Wola district designed by PRC Architekci. This year’s winners include two investment from North America, two from Europe, and two from Asia Pacific. The Norblin Factory triumphed earlier (October 13) in the European edition of the competition and was awarded as one of the three best urban planning projects of the 2022 ULI Europe Awards for Excellence.
In 2022, 152 projects and programs were submitted across the three ULI regions. Of those submissions, 26 were named as winners across the regions and were then considered as global finalists. From this impressive field, the jury ultimately selected the six winners.
In addition to the Norblin Factory, the list of winners includes the following investments:
- Anken Alley, Shanghai, China. Developer: ANKEN Group. Designer: ANKEN Group.
- Enabling Village, Singapore. Developer: SG Enable Ltd. Designer: WOHA Architects Pte Ltd.
- Essex Crossing, New York City, New York, United States. Developers:BFC Partners; Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group; L+M Development Partners; New York City Economic Development Corporation; New York City Department of Housing Preservation & Development; Prusik Group; Taconic Partners. Designers: Beyer Blinder Belle; Cetra Ruddy; Dattner Architects; DXA Studio; Future Green Studio; Gensler; Handel Architects; Kokobo Greenscapes; SHoP Architects; SLCE Architects; West 8.
- MÉCA, Bordeaux, France. Developer: Region Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Designers: BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group; FREAKS freearchitects; Lafourcade-Rouquette Architectes.
- St. Pete Pier, St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. Developer:City of St. Petersburg, Florida. Designers:Rogers Partners + Urban Designers; ASD | SKY; Ken Smith Workshop; W Architecture and Landscape Architecture; Wannemacher Jensen Architects.
„Across the three regions, ULI honored finalists who displayed an exemplary commitment to best practices and to building more inclusive cities with exceptional and contextual design,” said Sophie Henley-Price, Principal & Managing Director, STUDIOS Architecture (Paris, France) and Jury Chair. „The winners exhibited a unique level of excellence both at a regional and global scale, along with a dedication to promoting community engagement and innovation within their respective projects. By serving as replicable models for how developers across a diverse set of circumstances can successfully transform their communities for the better, these projects go above and beyond in furthering ULI’s mission worldwide.”
„It is hard to describe the joy and satisfaction that accompanies us on this occasion. The Norblin Factory was the fastest acquisition in the history of Capital Park Group, but the predevelopment works and then revitalization and construction process itself took very long time – says Marcin Juszczyk, member of the management board, CIO / CFO at the Capital Park Group. This complex mixed-use project combines all our experience gained during development of Eurocentrum Office Complex, Royal Wilanów (among others), both when it comes to the investment process and successful placemaking strategy, which we have implemented in the Norblin Factory. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to all of our incredibly professional teammates, investors and banks who believed in our idea, designers and countless contractors involved in the entire process”
The revitalisation of the former Norblin, Buch Brothers and T. Werner factory began in 2008 when the two-hectare post-industrial site located at the junction of Żelazna, Łucka and Prosta streets was acquired by the Capital Park Group. Bringing the post-factory complex back to life turned out to be an extremely demanding and complicated process both during design and construction. The first phase of the investment project involved preparatory work including concept development in accordance with conservation guidelines, compiling necessary documentation and obtaining required permits. It was followed by four years of construction and revitalisation work involving at times as many as 1000 employees and over 100 conservators. The investment project has restored the former factory buildings to their former glory. On top of them, eight-storey modern office space was built in an industrial style. The Norblin Factory offers over 65,000 sq.m. of usable area with state-of-the-art A+ class offices taking up 41,000 sq.m. of space and the remaining 24,000 sq.m. filled with entertainment, culture, food, service, retail, health & beauty concepts. For the visitors of the Norblin Factory, there are, among others, a boutique KinoGram cinema, an ecological market – BioBazar, the largest gastronomic zone in the capital – Food Town, Piano Bar with live music, Norblin Factory Museum, Art Box Experience gallery, Apple Polish Museum, Smart Kids Planet – smart entertainment center as well as restaurants, shops and service premises. There are two main alleys in the complex, named after Ludwik Norblin and Teodor Werner, accessible 24/7.
The office space has already been fully leased even before the opening in September 2021. The office space of the Norblin Factory is home, among others, to Allegro, the Global Business Services Centre of Japan Tobacco International, the Scandinavian financial service provider SEB Bank, and the facility management service provider ISS World Services Poland, Mount TFI, City Office.
The architecture of the Norblin Factory was designed by the studio PRC Architekci. The main contractor of the investment was Warbud SA working in co-operation among others with Soletanche Polska, Maat4, and TKT Engineering. Monument Service was responsible for the conservation of historical buildings. Bank lending was provided for the investment project by Bank Pekao SA (EUR 99.3 million) and the European Investment Bank (EUR 60 million); combined with the Capital Park Group’s own funds, it paid for the construction costs.
More information on each of the finalists is available at: https://americas.uli.org/programs/awards-competitions/uli-global-award-for-excellence/2022-uli-global-awards-for-excellence-finalists/
ULI Global Awards for Excellence:
ULI began the Awards for Excellence program in 1979 to recognize truly superior development efforts in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. Winning projects represent the highest standards of achievement in the development industry—standards that ULI members deem worthy of attainment in their professional endeavors. Today the real estate and land use industry widely recognizes the ULI Global Awards for Excellence as one of its most prestigious awards programs.
The Awards for Excellence recognize the full development process of a project, not just its architecture or design—although these elements play an important role.
The Awards recognize both development projects and programs. Among projects, the Awards recognize a wide variety of product types, including office, residential, retail, industrial, hotel, mixed use, planned community, open space, and more. Programs are initiatives, processes, or policies that guide or enhance development.
A jury of ULI members chooses finalists and winners. Members of the jury are leaders who represent a broad geographic diversity and many areas of real estate and land use expertise, including finance, planning, development, public affairs, design, and professional services, among others.
Since 2012, the ULI Global Awards for Excellence have honored development projects and programs from around the globe in a single competition. In 2022, projects and programs must first enter a regional award program. That means the ULI Awards for Excellence in the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific regions serve as the first round for the 2022 ULI Global Awards for Excellence. Winners from the regional programs become finalists in the global awards.
About Urban Land Institute:
Founded in 1936, the institute has over 46,000 members worldwide, representing the entire spectrum of fields and professions related to spatial planning and real estate. In Europe, ULI has almost 5,000 members associated in 15 national networks, the so-called National Councils.
