Insider's 24th annual West Midlands Property Awards saw around 600 key property figures and their advisers celebrate the region's real estate sector.
Fourteen awards were given out on the night, including the Future Ambition Award, which showcased six proposed major developments, with the winner decided by the audience.
Other new categories at this year's event, held at Eastside Rooms, Birmingham, included Newcomer of the Year, Industrial Deal of the Year and Office Deal of the Year.
Fourteen awards were given out on the night, including the Future Ambition Award, which showcased six proposed major developments, with the winner decided by the audience.
Other new categories at this year's event, held at Eastside Rooms, Birmingham, included Newcomer of the Year, Industrial Deal of the Year and Office Deal of the Year.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hello, I'm Ian Griffin, Deputy Editor of Midlands Business Insider, and I'm here at Insiders
00:14West Midlands Property Awards, where in a few minutes, 570 people will be here to watch
00:20the presentation of 14 awards this evening.
00:23One of those awards is a new one, it's the Future Ambition Award, where the audience
00:28will get to vote for the winner, and they'll get to choose from one of six projects which
00:33are yet to be completed.
00:35Those projects will have a huge impact on their local communities, their local economies.
00:41They'll have achieved some significant progress this year, but as I say, haven't yet been
00:45completed.
00:46It'll be a real show of support for those projects.
00:51It's going to be a great night, let's hear what some of the judges and some of the winners
00:55had to say about this evening.
00:57Hi, Joe Salmon, Make Asset Management.
01:02This was the first year I'd been invited to be a judge on the Insider West Midlands Property
01:06Awards.
01:07Quite an experience, the diversity of the entries for all of the categories was quite
01:13impressive.
01:14There was a lot of content to go through, very exciting, very interesting propositions
01:22that are going on in the West Midlands, and it was really great to see all of that and
01:27get the full detail first-hand.
01:30A very robust process with the other judges, a lot of debate, a lot of discussion, few
01:36arguments, and none of the awards were given or awarded until we were all unanimous on
01:45that decision.
01:46It was a very robust process, really enjoyable, and all of the entries, really impressed by
01:52the quality of those, the standard, it was incredible.
01:58It was a really inclusive and exciting thing to be involved with, and all of those entries
02:07credit to you, you've really done a good job and you're doing an amazing job in the West
02:11Midlands.
02:12So, thanks all for those who've entered, and good luck to those who've won.
02:18Hello, I'm Mark Martin.
02:20I'm a director and owner of One Creative Environments, a multidisciplinary firm based in the Midlands.
02:27I was always impressed with the Insider Awards, and very privileged when I was asked to be
02:33a judge, and I've been a judge now for two years, and it is awe-inspiring when you start
02:39to see the level and quality of the work and the content of what people are doing in this
02:47brilliant region in the Midlands, in the West Midlands.
02:50So when I started, I was a little bit naive, I thought it'd be quite an easy thing being
02:53a judge.
02:55Last year was a baptism of fire, I thought, my word, there's a lot of work here, a lot
02:59of hours go in by the judges, a very professional response.
03:03We take into account everything that we see, we read every word, and I thought that was
03:09tough last year.
03:10This year I went into it prepared, but I wasn't prepared.
03:14This year was even better.
03:15There were more submissions, there were higher quality submissions, there was more content,
03:22and it just says to me, the West Midlands is thriving at the moment.
03:25The fact that year on year, the Insider Awards get better and better, and the judging, honestly,
03:31we are having to spend weeks before we deliberate and come down to a decision on the winners.
03:37It just is a reflection of the vibrancy of the industry and the economy in this region.
03:44So being a judge is not easy, and anyone who wants to be a judge, well, just prepare
03:51yourself.
03:52I prepared myself this year, I was a bit naive last year, and this year was even tougher.
03:58And that's a celebration and a recommendation for this region.
04:04I've just looked out there tonight, and there are over 600 people enjoying tonight.
04:09They're all talking, they're all networking, they're thriving.
04:12These are not quiet people, these are successful people enjoying being in the West Midlands.
04:16So my message is, well done to all the people who have entered.
04:20You're all good, whether you win or lose.
04:23The judges have taken you seriously.
04:25When there's a conflict of interest, we have walked away and gone into another room or
04:30not been involved in the discussion.
04:32And it just says, well done, I can't say any more.
04:37So I am Anna Parker, Director of Intervention Architecture, based in Birmingham.
04:44And tonight we are really, really proud to have won Architects Practice of the Year,
04:50and also to have been part of the Future Ambition Award winning entry.
04:55And for that, you know, we have worked so hard over the last five years since we last
05:01won Architects Practice of the Year.
05:04We've been working on Smithfield, Birmingham, with Lendlease, a kind of joint venture project
05:10with Birmingham City Council, which is going to be so intrinsically important to the city
05:17in the future, into the development of how we access cultural projects and arts projects
05:24in the city.
05:25And also addressing the housing and kind of home occupation within the city is a really
05:33important project going forward, and how we're going to activate such a really central part
05:42of connecting through from Digbeth up to the Bullring, and really activating a lot of that
05:51ground floor area to create a market space, a kind of festival square, and also lots of
06:00commercial retail areas and restaurants to be really a 24-hour city for our region, which
06:07is going to be so exciting.
06:10Hi, Ralph Minot, Masterplan Development Director of Carlefield Estates.
06:16A handful of people have said, how did you know?
06:19What did you think about it?
06:20And it was a total shock.
06:2316 years, 17 years working for one of the most special organisations in the city.
06:30It's a great reward.
06:33We have 1,600 acres, 1,600 acres which were acquired 300 years ago.
06:40It probably had 100 years of very little, just farmland.
06:44And then you had 150 years of the creation of some of the best residences in the city.
06:52Probably the most defining period, though, was the 1950s, where a new masterplan was
06:59created by the beloved architect of Birmingham, John Maiden, who created a masterplan for
07:04the family for commercialisation of large parts of the residential central district.
07:11Now that area, which is the office buildings of the 1960s and 70s, saw 3 million square
07:19feet of offices built in the heart of Edgbaston.
07:22And it became almost like a satellite city centre outside the city centre.
07:28Here we are, 70 years later, already looking at all of that property as the next level
07:36of regeneration.
07:37It's quite interesting that we go through 300 years, things stand still, hold their
07:44place for hundreds of years.
07:47The stuff that we built in the 70s is already obsolete.
07:50And we've got to realise the future for Calthorpe, for the benefit of Birmingham,
07:56using those properties.
07:58So quite a challenge, really.
08:00The Five Ways Tower is special because when it was opened in the 70s, the Five Ways House
08:06was opened by our king, who was then the prince.
08:09A very special building.
08:11It's become a representative of government organisations throughout that period.
08:16But it has actually fell into disrepair over 20 or 30 years.
08:20And it's such a tall building, it's seen everywhere.
08:24And it's seen everywhere as a pretty derelict, unsightly property.
08:29We've actually found a great partner to work with to bring it forward as a new regeneration
08:34site.
08:36But we do need the City Council to support a positive design and approach to it.
08:42And I think it will be a great solution for residential, student and mixed-use in Tewishbaston
08:49and for the city.