Leading real estate developers, consultants, architects, and industry experts were honoured with the Cityscape Awards at a special ceremony held last night alongside the Riyadh Urban Development and Real Estate event.

The community, culture and Islamic architecture award went to Al-Andalus Schools for their new 50,000 sq m educational complex project in north Jeddah, while the residential project award (future) went to Reyadah Investment Company for its housing complex project.

Scoring a double win, the Heart of Jeddah developed by Jeddah Development & Urban Regeneration Company (JDURC) bagged both Best
Commercial & Retail Project Award (future) and Best Urban Design and Master Planning Award.

Commenting on the remarkable achievement, Greg Mackowiak, the vice president (Development) at JDURC said, “This is great news for the project, not only we have won two very important awards, but also got shortlisted for the Cultural and Islamic Architecture Award which we hope to win next year.”
 
In its third edition, The Cityscape Riyadh has been getting an overwhelming response. “Day One was a great success, which allowed exhibitors to showcase their projects to a wide variety of stakeholders and benefit from the unique product mix Cityscape Riyadh offers,” said Hussain Al-Harthy, the managing director, National Exhibitions Company, organizers of the event.

Tanween Arabia also had a dominant presence at the event where it showcased its new high-class residential community, Juman Village. Located within the Ramlat Juman Masterplan of Al-Azizya, south of Al-Khobar City.

The project offers an integrated neighborhood supported by an advanced infrastructure featuring good quality facilities and services. Al-Azizya District is fast becoming the natural extension of Al-Khobar, just minutes from the King Fahad Causeway, connecting the Kingdoms of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

In addition, the project is in close proximity to Al-Aziziya beach, the popular destination for family gatherings and preferred leisure destination, boasting a wide variety of family entertainment and activities.

“This project is positioned to attract the middle income Saudi families looking for quality living at affordable prices,” said Ahmed Zayour, Marketing Manager for Tanween Arabia commenting on the project.

“In addition to private car parking space for every villa, Juman Vilage provides the vital facilities every thriving community needs including a mosque, landscaped open spaces and gardens, children play areas and public car park. Moreover, the Ramlat Juman Masterplan comprises a host of supporting amenities including schools, post office, police station, civil defense station and municipality offices.”

Cluttons, the real estate specialist, released a special report on the Saudi real estate market covering the office, retail and hospitality sectors. The company recently confirmed its commitment to the Saudi market by opening its first office in the country located in the Eastern Province in a clear indication of the growing demand for a well experienced and specialized company that can fulfill the requirements of the more sophisticated developers.

“With more developments nearing completion in Riyadh and encouraging positive economic indicators, we have realized that it is the right time for us to move our operations to the Kingdom and offer our property management expertise, valuation services and development consultancy to existing and new clients. Special focus will be given to the fast evolving real estate needs of the telecom, industrial and logistics sectors for specialist area of focus,” said Ian Gladwin, chief executive Middle East, MRICS.

Speaking at the summit, Nasser Nubani, the general counsel at Capitas Group International said: “In order to have a properly functioning and robust mortgage market, a mortgage law and regulations is not enough. There are five critical components of a functioning home finance market that need to be addressed: enforcement laws, efficient mortgage and title registration, a credit reporting system, reliable valuation mechanisms for the property being mortgaged; and liquidity through a functioning Secondary Market."

"Without these building blocks in place mortgage finance in any market will not reach its true potential and the general weaknesses in legal and institutional foundation of any mortgage system has hindered housing finance growth in Saudi and throughout the region,” he added.-TradeArabia News Service