MEED Projects Awards 2022 recognises region’s best projects

ICD Brookfield Place has been named Project of the Year at the MEED Projects Awards 2022, in association with Mashreq. 

Developed by Brookfield Properties, the 53-floor commercial office tower in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) was judged the best project completed in the past 18 months in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region based on a range of criteria, including social impact, sustainability, innovation, technical achievement and project delivery. 

As well as praising its civil engineering, the judges were impressed by its LEED Platinum certification, use of indoor space, adoption of innovative construction technology and competitive positioning in the market.

Despite only receiving its first tenants a few months ago, ICD Brookfield Place is already setting the template for quality commercial property in Dubai and the region as a whole

Sonia Kerrigan, MEED

Regional honours

Nineteen other projects across a range of sectors won overall regional honours at the 12th edition of the awards held at a gala ceremony at the Ritz Carlton JBR on 23 November. 

Notable winners included the Habitas Resort at Al-Ula for Hotel Project of the Year, the Rabigh 3 independent water project (IWP) for Mega Project of the Year, the Oman Across Ages Museum, which won Culture Project of the Year, and the Sabic United EO-EG-III project, which was selected for the Hareket Oil & Gas Project of the Year. 

Other highlights were the NES Fircroft Power Project of the Year, won by the Sharjah waste-to-energy plant, and the College of Science & Faculty Club at Kuwait University, which took the Social Infrastructure Project of the Year award.

The strong turnout at the awards ceremony, along with the phenomenal volume of entries this year, is proof of the amount of resilience and the inherent drive for innovation that our projects continue to display

Arun Mathur, Mashreq Bank

Engineer of the Year

For the first time at the MEED Project Awards, there was an award for MEED Engineer of the Year, which went to Paul Mullett, group engineering and technology director at the Robert Bird Group. 

“Paul led the rollout of a new cloud-based platform for design and construction, aligning developers, contractors and consultants across the full construction process to better manage projects, and significantly impact the productivity and efficiency of their own business,” says Sonia Kerrigan, group commercial director at MEED.

“He is a worthy winner of our inaugural engineer of the year award.” 

The complete list of the 2022 MEED Projects Awards, in association with Mashreq, winners and finalists is available on the awards website here

Judging process

The announcement of the overall winners across 20 categories follows an extensive submission and judging process by an independent panel of more than 40 judges from different industries. More than 100 Mena projects were selected as National Winners for the awards earlier in the year. They were then put forward to compete against each other for the best regional project in each category. 

“The record number and high quality of the entries show just how resilient the market has been, with almost all entries being delivered on time and to budget despite the challenges of recent years,” says Kerrigan.

“Congratulations, in particular, goes to Brookfield Properties and its ICD Brookfield Place project, which wowed the judges with its excellence in every criterion, including its commitment to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. Despite only receiving its first tenants a few months ago, it is already setting the template for quality commercial property in Dubai and the region as a whole.” 

Commenting on the award winners this year, Arun Mathur, Mashreq Bank’s executive vice-president and global head of contracting finance, adds: “I have attended almost all of the previous (event) editions, and every year, I am without fail astonished and humbled by the level of hard work and achievements that the projects industry brings to the fore. 

“The strong turnout at the awards ceremony, along with the phenomenal volume of entries that we have received this year, is proof of the amount of resilience and the inherent drive for innovation that our projects continue to display … Amid all of the turbulence, the projects market has responded with agility, displayed its strengths and has successfully put its best foot forward.”