Construction Week closed the year on a positive and constructive note, identifying excellence from within the industry, and awarding winners and highly commended at our first physical event of 2020.
The 16th edition of the Construction Week Awards were held at the JW Marriott Marquis in Dubai’s Business Bay on 9 December, celebrating construction in the region across 18 categories, in adherence to prescribed health and safety measures.
Despite the year being a challenging one for the industry, we had a total of 156 submissions from 56 firms for the CW Awards 2020.
As Project Manager of the Year, Sub-Consultancy of the Year, Rising Star of the Year, Consultancy of the Year, Engineer of the Year, Contractor of the Year, Hospitality Project of the Year, CSR Initiative of the Year, and Construction Executive of the Year returned as popular categories, newer additions included Design & Build Project of the Year, Architecture Firm of the Year, and People’s Choice Award.
The line-up of our independent panel of judges included:
• Sachin Kerur, the head of the Middle East for Reed Smith
• Marcus Taylor, founder of FifthEdge
• Dr Fadi Bayoud, founder and MD of Strategic Anchors
• Dr Yasemin Nielsen, lead of EngD Construction at Heriot-Watt University Dubai and member of the Centre of Excellence in Smart Construction
• Ashley Williams, editor of Construction Week Middle East
• Catherine Workman, head of the Middle East for Pinsent Masons
The winners and highly commended from the event are as below:
CSR Initiative of the Year: Oman-based contracting giant Douglas OHI took home the award for the year for its Autism Awareness and Education winning initiative.
Highly-commended in this category was won by Multiplex Construction.
Health & Safety Initiative of the Year: Multiplex Construction earned the title for its Workers’ Rights Representation and Welfare initiative.
Highly-commended in this category was won by ALEC for its Risk Awareness Training Protocol initiative.
Sustainability Initiative of the Year: AESG won the award in this category for its Pathway to Net-Zero initiative. Designed by the firm’s director of energy and sustainability Philippa Grant, the Pathway to net zero initiative determines and evaluate the options available for reducing both the embodied and operational carbon footprint of buildings.
Highly-commended in this category was won by Enerwhere, who collaborated with Six Construct to reduce their carbon footprint by more than 50% and their energy costs by 20% across their construction sites in the UAE.
Commercial Project of the Year: Multiplex Construction won the Commercial Project of the Year at the Construction Week Awards 2020 for its work on the ICD Brookfield Place development in Dubai.
The Highly Commended for the Commercial Project of the Year Award went to ASGC for the Dubai Harbour Cruise Terminal.
Hospitality Project of the Year: UAE contractor ASGC was honoured with the Hospitality Project of the Year for delivering the 25 Hours Hotel project.
Pushing ASGC very close for the winning hospitality project title was Bond Interiors, who picked up Highly Commended for its ME by Melia development.
Residential Project of the Year: Global architecture, planning, and design firm, CallisonRTKL (CRTKL) won the Residential Project of the Year for the Mamsha Al Saadiyat development in Abu Dhabi.
Picking up the Highly Commended for the Residential Project of the Year was Ithra Dubai for the Deira Enrichment Project.
Infrastructure Project of the Year: Kier Construction reclaimed the Infrastructure Project of the Year for its straight second year at the CW Awards 2020.
Khatib & Alami was honoured as highly-commended in the category for its work on the Al Mahsama Water Reclamation Plant in Egypt.
Design & Build Project of the Year: Abu Dhabi waterfront destination Al Qana, which is being developed by Al Barakah International Investment, won our brand new category.
ALEC was also shortlisted for the Design & Build Project of the Year category for its work on Expo 2020 Dubai’s KSA Pavilion.
People’s Choice of the Year Award: For the People’s Choice of the Year category, Construction Week along with our social media partner for the awards, WSP Middle East, came together to allow the public to decide the winner of the brand new category through a social media poll system. Depa Interiors was chosen based on how the firm is becoming a future-ready business through innovations in technology.
Four companies were nominated for the award. These included Orascom Construction, Depa Interiors, ACCIONA, and Losberger De Boer.
Engineer of the Year: WSP Middle East’s Mohamed Hegazy picked up the Engineer of the Year accolade, while highly-commended in this category was earned by ALEC’s Rade Miljanovic who has been instrumental in the development of the One Za’abeel project.
Project Manager of the Year: Compass Project Consulting’s associate, Hamed Parnian, scooped the award for project manager of the year. Parnian has earned two promotions in the year, going from project manager to senior project manager to associate, where he now joins the senior management team and takes charge of the UAE project management crew.
Falling just short of the winner’s title, China State Construction’s Cheng Qianli was named as the Highly Commended for the category.
Construction Executive of the Year: The Construction Executive of the Year was among the closest calls to make across the 17 categories with so many outstanding individuals shortlisted for 2020. However, only one company can take home the award and for this year, the awardee was Mott MacDonald’s managing director, Christopher Seymour, who was chosen for his commitment towards gender diversity, mental health and wellbeing, changing perceptions, and drive for technology innovations and sustainability.
The Highly Commended for the Construction Executive of the Year honour went to Cundall’s managing director and partner Richard Stratton.
Rising Star of the Year: Cundall’s structural engineer, Calum Perey, was awarded the Rising Star of the Year, with judges commending him for an “outstanding contribution to the industry”.
Khatib & Alami’s urban planner/architect Dana Al Haremi picked up the Highly Commended honour.
Sub-Consultancy of the Year: Compass Project Consulting was named the Sub-Consultancy of the Year, owing to continuous growth, as well as repeated business and positive testimonials.
Picking up the Highly Commended honour for Sub-Consultancy of Year was Tenable Fire Engineering Consultancy.
Sub-Contractor of the Year: Alemco, the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) arm of UAE contracting giant ALEC won the sub-contractor of the year title, while highly-commended was won by Transgulf Readymix Concrete Company.
Architecture Firm of the Year: Killa Design won the Architecture Firm of the Year for the “eye-catching” design of the Museum of the Future in Dubai and achieving the LEED Platinum certification for the project.
The Highly Commended for the Architecture Firm of the Year Award went to Studio Toggle.
Consultancy of the Year: International firm, WSP Middle East, reclaimed the Consultancy of the Year title, after picking up the Highly Commended accolade for the 2019 awards.
Falling just short of retaining their consultancy title was Cundall, who picked up the Highly Commended accolade.
Contractor of the Year: UAE contractor, ALEC, for its third year straight, claimed the most coveted prize of Construction Week Awards 2020 – the Contractor of the Year Award.
Highly Commended for the Contractor of the Year honour went to ASGC for a valiant company performance despite difficult market conditions.
The shortlist for the Contractor of the Year Award, in addition to ALEC and ASGC, were China State Construction, Douglas OHI, Depa Interiors and Orascom Construction.
Congratulations to all winners and highly-commended!
