ASGC and BuroHappold scoop major prizes at Big Project Middle East Awards 2018
Individual wins for Airolink’s CEO Dr Anil Pillai and AESG’s Saeed Al Abbar as industry gathers to recognise regional excellence
The 2018 edition of the Big Project ME Awards took place on November 26, 2018 at the Double Tree Hilton in JBR, Dubai. The event attracted a crowd of more than 250 construction industry professionals, with CEOs, managing directors and other senior level figures all in attendance to celebrate the best of the construction industry for the year.
Held annually, the event was hosted at an outdoor venue for the first time ever, with the guests assembling on the Double Tree Hilton’s lawn, which had Ain Dubai and Bluewaters providing a stunning backdrop to proceedings.
Having grown into one of the most recognised and well-regarded award nights in the construction industry, this year’s event featured submissions from a range of contractors, consultants, subcontractors, developers, suppliers and manufacturers from across the GCC and MENA region.
This year’s awards saw more than 130 nominations filed for consideration across 21 categories, with several high-profile and prestigious projects, contractors and developers vying for the biggest prizes on the night. Amongst the nominees for the awards were local government authorities and bodies, such as Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority.
“The Big Project ME Award 2018 was a huge success for us and we’re delighted at the turn out. The high attendance levels show that these awards are valued and respected across the construction industry and we’re delighted to see so many new faces taking part this year,” said Raz Islam, managing director of CPI Trade Media, the organisers behind the event and the publishers of Big Project ME magazine.
“We had more than 250 guests here tonight and it’s great to see that everyone was having a great time. It’s heartening to see the passion and appreciation the industry has for our awards and events. This year has seen a huge spike in our attendance figures for all our events and awards, and it’s clear that what we’re doing is resonating with the industry.
“The quality of entries this year has been fantastic, and I would like to offer my congratulations to all of those who took part – especially to the winners and runners up!”
The awards themselves were divided into different sub-sections – Company Awards, Individual Awards, Contractor Awards and Project Awards. Each sub-section had four to five awards, with the judges faced with tough decisions for certain major awards.
This year, the Contractor of the Year Award went to the Dubai-based contractor, ASGC; while the Project of the Year went to the Louvre Abu Dhabi, which was submitted by BuroHappold.
Other notable winners on the night were Voltas Limited, who picked up the MEP Contractor of the Year Award, and Dubai World Trade Centre, who took home the Developer of the Year award. In the individual categories, Saeed Al Abbar won the Big Project ME’s Executive of the Year Award, while Dr Anil Pillai, CEO and chairman of Airolink Group, won the Big Project ME’s Business Leader of the Year Award.
The judges for this year’s event were: Paul Wallet (Trimble), Morgan Tuckness (Drees and Sommer), Craig Finlayson (Currie & Brown), Nicky Dobreanu (C-Quest), Steven Batchelor (F+G), Carolina Fong Guzzy (Accienta), Jesus Sancho (Acciona), and Anil Menon (CKR).
The sponsors for the Big Project ME Awards 2018 are: Platinum Sponsor: Ithra Dubai; Gold Sponsors: Airolink, Lacasa, Hill International, Pace Architecture Engineering + Planning; Silver Sponsors: ALEC, ABB, CCS Gulf, Trimble and Voltas. The Supporting Partners for the event were CIOB and RICS, while Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority endorsed the event.
The full list of winners and short-listed nominees are:
Company Awards
Product Innovation Award
Dow Chemical – Dow Cool Reflective Roof Coatings
Polypipe Middle East – Permavoid
Voestalpine Metsec – Purlin Optimization Software (Winner)
Excellence in BIM
BuroHappold
ECC
Shapoorji Pallonji (Winner)
Skills Development Programme of the Year
ALEC – Boost Programme
ASGC – ASGC Academy (Winner)
Sustainable Government Department of the Year
Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority
Infrastructure Leader of the Year
Ithra Dubai
Developer of the Year
Binghatti Developers
Dubai World Trade Centre (Winner)
Ithra Dubai
Individual Awards
Big Project ME Executive of the Year
Saeed Al Abbar (AESG) (Winner)
Kez Taylor (ALEC)
Muhammad BinGhatti (Binghatti Developers)
Big Project ME Woman of the Year
Agnes Koltay (Koltay Facades) (Winner)
Phillipa Grant (AESG)
Soura Madani (Soura Madani House of Design)
Big Project ME Personality of the Year
Talal Al Gaddah – CEO, MAG Lifestyle Development
Big Project ME Business Leader of the Year
Dr Anil Pillai – CEO, Airolink
Contractor Awards
Design and Build Contractor of the Year
ALEC – Marina Gate (Winner)
IHCC – Diyar Al Salam
Fit-Out Contractor of the Year
ALEC Fit-Out
DEPA (Winner)
Summertown Interiors
MEP Contractor of the Year
ALEMCO
China State Construction Engineering Corporation Middle East (MEP Division)
Voltas Limited (Winner)
Sustainable Contractor of the Year
AF Construction
Nael General Contracting (Winner)
Contractor of the Year
ALEC
ASGC (Winner)
China State Construction Engineering Corporation Middle East
Project Awards
Big Project ME Project of the Year
Gate Avenue – DIFC
Marina Gate – Select Group (Winner)
One Za’abeel – Ithra Dubai
Excellence in HSE on a Project
ALEC
China State Construction Engineering Corporation Middle East
Tabreed (Winner)
Excellence in BIM Implementation on a Project
BAM International – Museum of the Future (Winner)
Dewan Architects – FlyDubai Headquarters
WME – UAE Pavilion, Expo 2020
Sustainable Project of the Year
AESG – X-Works
ASGC – Enterprise Command and Control Centre
BuroHappold – Louvre Abu Dhabi (Winner)
Infrastructure Project of the Year
ASGC – Dubai International Airport Improvement Works and Remote Couching Facility
China State Construction Engineering Corporation Middle East – Improvement of Al Wasl Road Ph.1B Interchange 2.5
Hill International – Muscat International Airport (Winner)
Project of the Year
BuroHappold – Louvre Abu Dhabi (Winner)
Ithra Dubai – One Za’abeel
La Perle by Dragone
