2019 PropertyGuruAsia Property Awards (Sri Lanka) officially opens its third annual edition as developers continue to venture in innovative concepts and design

SRI LANKA’S EMERGING REAL ESTATE SECTOR HAS A LOT TO PROVE AT THE REGION’S LARGEST AND MOST RESPECTED PROPERTY AWARDS

• Categories for Colombo, North East, Central, and Southern Sri Lanka
• New recognition for the Best Residential Development in Maldives
• Exclusive gala dinner with 400 gueststakes place in Colombo on26 July

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka­­

PropertyGuru, Asia’s leading property technology company and the host of the region’s largest and most respected real estate awards, has officially opened the nominations and entries period for its prestigious competition to take place on Friday, 26 July 2019, at the Shangri-LaHotel in Colombo.

The 3rd Annual PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards (Sri Lanka)recognises the year’s most outstanding developers, projects and design. Online submissionsare now being accepted at www.AsiaPropertyAwards.com. Nominations are open to the industry and the public.

Open categories include Best Condo, Housing, and Residential Development in Colombo, North East, Central, and Southern Sri Lanka. There are also commercial categories for Best Retail, Office, Mixed Use, Industrial, Hotel Development, and Boutique Hotel Development. A new category for Best Residential Development (Maldives) has been added due to strong interest from residential developers on the island.

A few special awards are lined up for entrants with exemplary track record in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Sustainable Development, Design and Construction, Customer Care, and Building Communitiesinitiatives. In addition, a new Sri Lanka Real Estate Personality of the Year awardee will be named; it was presented for the first time in 2018 by the editors of PropertyGuru Property Report magazine to Pradeep Moraes, Director ofIndocean Developers (Pvt) Ltd, and Chairman of the Condominium Developers Association of Sri Lanka (CDASL).

The highesthonourswill go to the Best Developer and Best Boutique Developer. The main category winners of the local competition will then be eligible to compete at the regional Asia Property Awards Grand Final to be held in Bangkok, Thailand in late November where finalists from more than 15 markets from Sri Lanka to Australia will vie for regional accolades.

Sri Lanka’s real estate industry has shown great potential for growth following the enthusiastic response of entrants to the first two editions of the competition. One of the country winners, the twin towers of Altair –– designed by legendary architect Moshe Safdie –– eventually took home the Best Condo Architectural Design (Asia) at the Grand Final in November 2018, besting 11 other finalists from across the Asia-Pacific region for its cutting-edge and pioneering concept.

With a solid reputation for fairness, transparency and credibility, the 2019 PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards (Sri Lanka) will be independently judged by a respected panel of experts led by Dr. Nirmal de Silva, Director and CEO of Paramount Realty. The judges will also conduct supervised site inspections for longlisted nominees.

“Sri Lankan developers have illustrated that they can rub shoulders with industry peers in the region in terms of design, creativity and quality, whilst displaying high levels of professionalism and integrity to take the industry forward. Our site visits, which are done as part of the process, is absolutely crucial to understand key elements such as design ethos, compliance, market positioning and overall quality.It definitely makes my job as head judge and my fellow judges on the panel rather tough but equally interesting,” said De Silva at the historic 2018 ceremony, which was held for the first time in Colombo and keynoted by Hon. PataliChampikaRanawaka, M.P., the Minister of Megapolis and Western Development.

Key dates for the 2019edition are:

3 December 2018 – Nominations and Entries Open

24 May 2019 – Nominations Close

31 May 2019 – Entries Close

17-28 June 2019 – Site Inspections

1 July 2019 – Final Judging

26 July 2019 – Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony in Colombo, Sri Lanka

29 November 2019 – Grand Final in Bangkok, Thailand

The black-tie gala event, which was attended last year by nearly 400 guests, will be produced by the new awards business director Jules Kay, who is one of the original members of the Asia Property Awards team when it was established more than a decade ago.

The 2019 PropertyGuruAsia Property Awards (Sri Lanka) is supported by official airline partner THAI Airways;official portal partner LankaPropertyWeb.com; official magazine PropertyGuru Property Report; and the award-winning team of BDO, the official supervisor.

For more information, emailawards@propertyguru.comor visit the official website: AsiaPropertyAwards.com