(LONDON) – The Urban Land Institute (ULI) and Hines, the global real estate firm, have announced the winning team in the third annual ULI Hines Student Competition – Europe.
Four students from ESSEC Business School, France, were named as the victors following the final of the prestigious pan-European student competition for integrated and multidisciplinary urban regeneration. This year’s competition tasked a total of six teams to devise plans for the redevelopment of a former dairy factory located in a changing district of northern Madrid, Spain.
The multidisciplinary and diverse student teams, all of whom were drawn from an eclectic mix of universities, business schools and further education establishments, were challenged to create a vision for the regeneration of the factory and the wider site that would lead to a positive impact in the area.
The winners of the competition will each receive a fast-track to the Hines internship application program, a guided tour of an existing development project, participation in project meetings in Hines’ European offices, and complimentary access to bespoke in-person opportunities within the ULI programs. Additionally, all the finalists from the six teams have already received a one-year ULI membership.
Antoine Sgar, Marie Lucille, Marion Decloux-Carré and Théo Roché from ESSEC beat five other teams from institutions including London Business School (UK), INSEAD (France), IE University (Spain), LSE/UCL/Oxford Brookes (UK) and London Business School/University of Glasgow (UK) to win the coveted prize.
The final, which took place in a hybrid format on 24 May, consisted of a whole day of virtual sessions, where the finalist teams had to tackle the challenge of redeveloping a site that included a listed and celebrated monument to modern architecture, to minimise environmental impact while generating a positive community impact, create connections to the various surrounding districts, and enhance social cohesion.
Their plans had to include a site plan and overall mix of uses and amenities; an innovative brief for the reuse of the factory that would benefit the wider community; and measures to ensure a strong focus on ESG principles balancing positive societal outcomes with reasonable financial returns. Proposals needed to demonstrate a vision for the redevelopment that understood the challenges of placemaking enhanced the existing urban fabric, and acted as a catalyst to spurn redevelopment in the wider urban area. Responses addressing finance, investment, design, planning and sustainable development, and ESG were all essential for the proposals.
The finalists were asked to present their plans to an esteemed jury of senior pan-European real estate leaders, including: Lars Huber, CEO, Hines Europe; Brian Moran, Head of Ireland, Hines; Irina Stefanova, Global Head Real Estate and Facility Services, Novartis; Jorge Pérez de Leza, CEO, Metrovacesa; Virginia González Montes de Oca, Senior Architect, Community of Madrid; Iñigo Ortiz, Co-founder, Ortiz Leon Architects; and Lisette van Doorn, CEO – Europe, ULI.
Lars Huber, CEO of Hines Europe, said: “The ULI Hines Student Competition in Europe is designed to inspire the next generation of real estate leaders to rise to a real-life challenge and address the multi-layered issues and complexities of urban development and placemaking. Our judging panel was hugely impressed by the innovation and ingenuity, grounded in pragmatism, of all the finalists this year, particularly their awareness and sensitivity in addressing the ESG challenges and community impact dimensions of the case study project.”
“It’s imperative the industry makes a collective effort to make young people aware of the broad range of exciting career paths that real estate has to offer, and I’m proud this competition continues to grow every year and is a clarion call for the sector to students across Europe.”
Lisette van Doorn, CEO of ULI Europe, added: “Congratulations to our winning team, and to all the participating teams, in what has been an exceptional third year of the Europe competition that has seen a very high standard of responses from among our competing teams. It has been exciting to see that, once again, tomorrow’s diverse talent can deftly meet critical real-world challenges, including all aspects of ESG, with such innovative and creative solutions, that many active in the industry today can learn from.”
“The principles behind this competition are laudable, reflecting the need to collaborate and work collectively to find innovative solutions to the urgent challenges that we all face, and share knowledge and best practice. This also perfectly reflects ULI’s own global, multidisciplinary, and multigenerational focus, and our mission to shape the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide.”
“Finally, I would like to thank Hines, a key corporate partner, for their collaboration to deliver this competition and for their generous support, which will I’m sure once again provide a launch pad for our next generation of leaders to begin their careers in the industry. I hope that everyone that has participated in this year’s competition will consider joining the industry and continue to engage with ULI to develop their careers, leveraging our global network and content.”
For further information, please visit: https://europe.uli.org/ulihinesstudentcompetition
Further details on ULI Hines Student Competition – Europe
Background to original ULI Hines Student Competition
- The ULI Hines Student Competition – Europe is affiliated with a U.S. version, which was established in 2002.
- Long-time ULI leader Gerald D. Hines, founder of the Hines real estate organisation, created the competition with a generous endowment after he received the ULI Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development in 2002.
- For further information about the original competition, visit: https://uli.org/hines.
About the Urban Land Institute
- The Urban Land Institute is a non-profit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to shape the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the institute has over 46,000 members worldwide representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines.
- ULI has almost 4,500 members in Europe across 15 National Council country networks. For more information, please visit europe.uli.org, or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.
About Hines
Hines is a privately owned global real estate investment firm founded in 1957 with a presence in 285 cities in 28 countries. Hines oversees investment assets under management totaling approximately $90.3 billionÂą. In addition, Hines provides third-party property-level services to 373 properties totaling 114.2 million square feet. Historically, Hines has developed, redeveloped or acquired approximately 1,530 properties, totaling over 511 million square feet. The firm currently has more than 198 developments underway around the world. With extensive experience in investments across the risk spectrum and all property types, and a foundational commitment to ESG, Hines is one of the largest and most-respected real estate organizations in the world.
Since entering Europe in 1991, Hines has grown its European platform to include offices in 17 cities as well as a presence in 60 cities in 14 countries. Hines oversees investment assets under management valued at approximately €24.5 billion and provides third-party property-level services totaling 4.3 million square meters in Europe, in Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Visit www.hines.com for more information.
ÂąIncludes both the global Hines organization as well as RIA AUM as of December 31, 2021.
