This year, more than any other, the industry will have reason to celebrate. We will have navigated one of the most unique and testing environments the world has ever seen. There will have been casualties, but the industry will have also innovated, pivoted, banded together, shown its true colours and done work that it – and its peers – should be proud of. And while right now it does not feel like the time to celebrate, one day – hopefully soon – it will. Now is the time to find the positives. To find a little joy. Now is the time to prepare your entries for the 2020 EG Awards.
As always, this year’s awards will celebrate the individuals and businesses driving innovation in the built environment. We are looking to celebrate more than just financial performance and deals. We are looking for entries that showcase purpose, and a wider contribution to clients, other stakeholders and the built environment as a whole.
This year we have 20 exciting categories that are open for entry or nomination, split into four divisions – company, sector, human and deal.
The period under review for submissions is April 2019 to March 2020.
The deadline for entries is 8 May.
Good luck!
COMPANY
We are looking to celebrate advisers, investors and developers that can demonstrate a track record of innovation, long-term thinking and future-proofing.
Entries should include financial performance, key instructions, deals and milestones. Awards within this “company” section of categories are majority focused on the performance of your business, rather than culture (see “human” section for categories more suited to this), unless you can prove improved business as a result.
Supporting material: This should illustrate and support your main submission and must be limited to two sides of A4. Supporting material that exceeds this will not be passed to judges.
UK Adviser
To be eligible for this category, entrants should have at least 10 administrative offices around the UK and an annual turnover in excess of £60m.
Global Adviser
To be considered “global”, entrants should have fee-earning subsidiaries on at least three continents.
UK Company
To be eligible for this category, entrants must be UK registered and have an annual turnover of more than £60m. It is open to developers, fund managers and investors.
Global Company
This category is open to developers, fund managers and investors with an established footprint in the UK and beyond.
Legal Team
This award is open to real estate legal teams working on planning, transactions, investment, financing, development and construction, as well as in environment and regeneration.
Property Management Innovator
This award is open to a company or organisation that is responsible for a number of properties/units in the UK. Alongside evidence of growth of business, judges will be looking for demonstrable in-depth building/portfolio management and evidence of innovation in property/asset management.
SECTOR
We are looking for best practice in the sectors that are having the biggest influence across the built environment, from residential, retail and leisure, industrial and logistics and workspace to specialist sectors such as hotels, care homes and student housing.
Entries should include examples of business success in your selected sector, including financial performance, key instructions, deals and milestones. Tangible and demonstrable customer experience, be that the end-user or occupier, should also form part of your entry.
BTR Innovator
This award is open to developers, investors, operators and managers of purpose-built rented residential assets. Judges will be looking for clear evidence of exemplar schemes or portfolios that are delivering housing solutions across the UK.
Retail/Leisure Experience
This award is open to advisers, operators and landlords. Judges will be looking for evidence of a retail or leisure experience or destination that has outperformed during the year under review.
Industrial & Logistics Innovator
This award is open to advisers, operators, investors and developers. Judges will be looking for evidence of outstanding performance from operators, agents or investor/developers in the sector with examples of key deals.
Best Workplace
This award is open to advisers, occupiers, architects, designers and landlords who can provide solid evidence that they have enabled the creation of the most functional and productive workplace in the UK. Judges will be looking for evidence of increased employee engagement and productivity as a result of the physical environment and examples of innovation in the physical workspace.
Alternatives Innovator
This award is open to advisers (businesses and teams) and property companies operating in the alternatives sector. Judges will expect to see entries from those operating in or advising the hotels, healthcare, student and retirement sectors among others not covered by the traditional retail/leisure, industrial, office and residential sectors.
EG Tech (closed to entries)
The EG Tech Award celebrates those that have worked hard on their digital transformations and those that are enabling the move to a new real estate frontier. Shortlisted entrants for this category will be drawn from the winners of the EG Tech Awards, entries for which are now closed.
HUMAN
We are looking to celebrate the future stars in the sector, the companies that are providing the best places to work, business and/or individuals playing a role in real estate’s fight against climate change and those businesses and individuals striving to have a positive impact on the world around them.
Entries should include examples of your practices, innovations and successes. Impact should be quantified and qualified as much as is possible.
Rising Star
The award is open to anyone working in the sector under the age of 35 (as at 31 December 2020). They can be traditionally trained or come from a non-property background, as long as they are making an impact on the industry right now – this award is open to everyone. Whether you are a digital disruptor, the outstanding up-and-coming dealmaker in your team, an entrepreneur or the next big thing in the agency world, we want to hear from you.
Anyone shortlisted for the award will automatically become one of our 2020 Rising Stars, who will be brought together for a photo shoot in central London, which will be covered in EG, before the winner is announced at the EG Awards.
Your entry must include:
- Your CV
- A citation no longer than one side of A4 and/or a two-minute video explaining why you think you should be one of EG’s 2020 Rising Stars
- Key company/company growth information or supporting statistics, documentation, references, images or designs.
Employer
This award celebrates real estate businesses that both get the basics right and go the extra mile for their staff. Judges will be looking for evidence of strong leadership, innovation and commitment to employee development. They will want to see evidence that employers are building a business for the future by focusing on their staff.
Specifically, they will want to see evidence of leadership, innovation and commitment in the following areas:
- Staff retention and development
- Employee engagement with corporate values and strategic goals
- Wellbeing
- Corporate social responsibility
- Creating a diverse workplace.
Sustainability
This award is open to all companies active in the built environment, including agents, developers, investors, architects, etc. Judges will be looking for clear, quantitative examples of improvements being taken by your business, through your business practices and, if relevant, across your portfolio to improve sustainability. This should include measures being taken to reduce carbon emissions, energy use, waste, etc.
Social Impact
This award is open to all companies active in the built environment, including agents, developers, investors, lawyers, architects, local authorities and industry bodies. Judges will be looking for evidence of businesses using their position and status to deliver a positive impact on society. This should include examples of working with communities to tackle societal issues such as modern slavery and homelessness, creating opportunities for growth and learning within local communities and establishing initiatives that recognise, measure and value the importance of people and communities.
Achieving social impact could come through partnership, investment, pro-bono work or employee-led initiatives. Judges will look for evidence that initiatives will achieve a lasting impact and will especially welcome ideas that have the potential for wider application and a wider social impact. Pioneering ideas and approaches that can be replicated and scaled to increase social impact will be particularly powerful in the judges’ deliberations.
Future of Real Estate
This award celebrates the individuals, the companies and the products that are doing more than ensuring their own success – they are helping ensure that the UK real estate industry stays ahead of the curve. From developments in tech to the shifting nature of the built environment, from the race to embrace modern methods of construction to new ways to persuade the public how the industry can be a force for positive change, there is no shortage of potential candidates for this award. Nominations are also welcome.
Outstanding Contribution to Real Estate
This award is made annually by the EG editorial team to recognise an individual who has played an integral role in the built environment. This award is not open for entries but nominations will be accepted. Please send a 500-word nomination to Carly McGowan at carly.mcgowan@egi.co.uk before 31 August 2020 to be considered.
DEAL
London Deal of the Year
UK Deal of the Year
The property industry continues to thrive on deals: eye-catching transactions that deliver results. These awards – one focused on London, the other on the rest of the UK – celebrate the best of those deals.
These awards are open to investors, lenders, developers, advisers and occupiers. Corporate deals, including mergers and acquisitions among advisers and proptech businesses, are eligible. All deals should have been completed during the awards year. Judges will want to see evidence of innovation and high returns, perhaps even of opening up a sector or a region for future growth. Deals should involve assets based in the UK, though global transactions undertaken by UK-based parties will also be considered. Corporate, investment and occupier deals from any property sector are eligible.
Your entry must include:
- The name of the deal and its principal location(s)
- A 500-word submission on why you believe you should win, with clear evidence that the deal had a transformative impact on a business, better positioning it for the future. Equally, a deal could have impacted, or have the potential to impact, the wider real estate industry. It could be a major transaction in a fledgling sector or a deal that moves the needle for UK plc.
If you have worked with other parties, please consider contacting them for a joint entry.
All entries must include:
- An elevator pitch: in 280 characters, tell us why you should win this award.
- Performance indicators: maximum of 150 words based on the two most recent financial years. This should include, where relevant, turnover growth, profit growth, market share, investment figures, etc.
- A 500-word submission and/or two-minute video demonstrating why your firm should win, with clear evidence around how your firm performed demonstrably better than your peers during the awards year, including examples of key achievements, instruction wins, innovation and key pieces of work that have come to fruition. Please also provide evidence that this growth is sustainable, plus evidence of success and customer satisfaction that clearly demonstrates that you are well positioned to succeed in the years ahead.
- At least two client testimonials with a client email contact for each for verification.
- Supporting material: this should illustrate and support your main submission and must be limited to two sides of A4. Supporting material that exceeds this will not be passed to judges.
