This year’s EG Tech Awards saw more than 300 people from the worlds of property and technology join forces at The Brewery in London to celebrate digital innovation and collaboration in real estate. Now in their second year, the 2019 Awards were bigger, better and bolder, and reflected a pivotal year in tech adoption.
Our winners, carefully selected by a panel of expert judges from more than 100 entries, represented organisations across the board, from tech start-ups to established real estate companies and government bodies, proving just how far the digital transformation net has now been cast.
In just over 12 months, the sector has moved on in leaps and bounds as 2018/19 has emerged as more than just another year in the tech adoption timeline and rather the turning point between talk and action.
With 13 awards to present, Georgie Barrat, tech journalist and co-host of Channel 5’s The Gadget Show, took to the stage to get proceedings under way.
Far-reaching impact
From sustainability and productivity to construction and placemaking, the EG Tech Awards celebrated both technology and property companies across a wide range of sectors.
They also introduced a new category, The Big Picture Award, presented to an organisation that has knitted together property and technology on a macro level to have a wide-reaching impact across the industry. The judges praised the winner of this award, HM Land Registry, as “an inspiration”, adding that it had “successfully demonstrated collaborative thinking within a large, complex organisation”.
Clayton Smith, HM Land Registry’s digital and data programmes delivery director, said on receiving the award: “We’re ecstatic – over the moon. We’re really proud of what we’ve achieved, and it is great that this has been acknowledged. We’ve done a lot, but there’s still a long way to go. This award is massive: it lets us know that we’re on the right track.”
The winner of this year’s Bridging the Gap Award, won last year by proptech consultant Dan Hughes, was Goldacre managing director Fionnuala Hogan. The only award to be presented to an individual rather than a team or organisation, it celebrates a person who has demonstrated dedication to bringing together the often diverse worlds of real estate and technology to aid progression in an industry that has traditionally been seen as slow-moving and sometimes archaic in its approach to change.
Hogan said: “I am so surprised. This award really belongs to my team – they have done an amazing job. This means a huge amount to the incredible team.”
See below for the full list of winners of this year’s EG Tech Awards.
Construction Award
WINNER
PlanRadar
“The winning company has proven great traction,” said the judges. “An impressive model, lots of customers and a great track record already.”
Finalists
Fonn Construction
Innerspace Homes
Oakwood Engineering Solutions
PlanRadar
Infrastructure Award
WINNER
UK Infrastructure Transitions Research Consortium
Judges said the winner hit the brief on so many levels. From innovative infrastructure analysis to a focus on future needs as well as the present. The winner demonstrated a razor sharp approach to tackling infrastructure issues head on.
Finalists
Classic Folios
Glide Residential
UK Infrastructure Transitions Research Consortium
Innovation Award
WINNER
Appear Here
In a category with more than 30 entries, this was another tough one to judge. After lengthy deliberations, the judges picked this winner because of its new approach to a business model that judges believe “will completely transform” the sector.
Finalists
Appear Here
Dashflow for CRE
Flatfair
Leverton
Matterport
RenKap
StreetDots
Investment Award – Property
WINNER
Goldacre
“A prime example of innovative investment” was how judges described this winner. In a tough category swamped with entries, this was a hard fought victory but one the judges said was entirely deserved.
Finalists
British Pearl
CapitalRise
Goldacre
Investment Award – Technology
WINNER
Gyana
Judges said they liked the winner’s “super smart” approach to data-driven investment and badged this company as doing something new and different around deep analytics from different data sources.
Finalists
BidX1
Coyote Software
Dashflow for CRE
Drooms
Gyana
Oxane Partners
Placemaking Award – Property
WINNER
Wordsearch Place
The winner of this category has demonstrated just how far placemaking can go to transform buildings, spaces, places and entire cities. Judges were impressed by how far this company has managed to take some of its projects and how it gets developers and traditional real estate companies on board with a new way of thinking.
Finalists
FutureCity
Knight Frank
Wordsearch Place
Placemaking Award – Technology
WINNER
Built-ID
Judges praised the winner for its dedicated engagement with the community and described it as an “undeniably strong company” and “a worthy winner in a tough category”
Finalists
Built-ID
District Technologies
Grain Connect
StreetDots
Productivity Award
WINNER
Open Box
The judges said this company is really helping to drive efficiency. It is helping the real estate industry to take the next steps towards transformation and there is no doubt that the services it provides increase efficiency.
Finalists
District Technologies
Essensys
Open Box
Student Cribs
WiredScore
Sustainability Award – Technology
WINNER
Pavegen
The winner of this category has not only been working hard on its product, but raising awareness around sustainability around the world. Judges praised the winner for having a wider impact on the sustainability agenda behind the business itself and were impressed by how far the product has come.
Finalists
Glide Residential
Iceni Projects
Pavegen
Sustainability Award – Property
WINNER
Nuveen Real Estate
The judges said the winner of this category really stood out for doing something new, fresh and totally different in the sustainability sphere.
Finalists
Innerspace Homes
Longevity Partners
Nuveen Real Estate
The Big Picture Award
WINNER
HM Land Registry
Judges said the winner of this award was an inspiration. It successfully demonstrated collaborative thinking within a large, complex organisation by pulling together the world of real estate and technology. Judges added that the winner also had a refreshing and honest approach to the challenges of instigating change in such a large organisation that others could learn from.
Finalists
British Property Federation
HM Land Registry
NHS Property Services
Remit Consulting and the RICS
UK PropTech Association
VU.CITY
EG Tech Academy Award
WINNER
Aphex
Judges said that while both finalists pitched products that sought to solve productivity problems, the opportunity for large-scale and dramatic improvement across an entire sector was clearly evident in one of those pitches.
Finalists
Aphex
Centric Lab
Bridging the Gap Award
WINNER
Fionnuala Hogan, managing director, Goldacre
“Supportive, innovative, forward-thinking.” Judges picked the winner in this category not only for their approach to the future growth of the relationship between property and technology, but for their past dedication to bridging the gap in a sector that has been evolving for many years. The winner of this award truly embodies the ethos behind the bridging-the-gap concept. One of the hardest categories to judge with a plethora of exceptional and inspirational entries and a very strong shortlist.
Finalists
Julian Carey, executive property director, Stenprop
Amanda Clack, head of strategic advisory, CBRE
Leila Collins, senior associate, MetaProp
Savannah de Savary, founder & chief executive, Built-ID
Angelica Donati, chief executive, Donati Immobiliare UK
Fionnuala Hogan, managing director, Goldacre
Bill Hughes, head of real assets, LGIM Real Assets
William Newton, president & EMEA managing director, WiredScore
Andy Pyle, head of UK real estate, KPMG
To send feedback, e-mail emily.wright@egi.co.uk or tweet @EmilyW_9 or @estatesgazette
