CONSTRUCTION WORLD ARCHITECT &BUILDER (CWAB) Awards 2018 held its FIRST CWAB Regional Initiative in Bengaluru

• Nominees for CWAB South Region 2018 announced
• An roundtable  discussion on ‘What Buyers Want’ among the experts of the Southern region

Bengaluru, July 27, 2018: The Construction World Architect and Builder Awards (CWAB), organized by FIRST Construction Council has added a new dimension this year to recognize regional players – architects, builders and interior designers, who are striving towards excellence. In the process of appreciating the talent in the Design and Building industry of in the South, nominees for 13^th CWAB awards 2018 were announced today in Bengaluru.

Reports indicate that the real estate sector in India is likely to reach a market size of $180 billion by 2020, from $126 billion reported in 2015. What’s more, the housing sector’s contribution to the Indian GDP is expected to almost double to more than 11 per cent by 2020.

With reference to India’s South region, smart cities are yet to provide the required fillip to the southern real estate sector. Cities with the smart tag in the South have a long way to go. These include Vishakhapatnam, Amaravati, Kakinada and Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh; Davangere, Belgaum, Tumakuru, Mangalore, Shimoga, Hubli-Dharwad and Bengaluru in Karnataka; Coimbatore, Madurai, Vellore, Chennai, Thanjavur, Tiruppur, Tirunelveli, Thootukkudi, Tiruchirapalli and Erode in Tamil Nadu; Warangal, Nizamabad, Khammam and Karimnagar in Telangana; Thiruvanathapuram and Kochi in Kerala; and Puducherry, among others.

Further, according to recent reports, Bengaluru has emerged as the front-runner in south India’s property market with housing demand and supply in the city being higher than Hyderabad and Chennai during the January-March period. Factors driving growth involve increased commercial activity, positive buyer sentiments, infrastructure upgrades and improved job opportunities. In January-March 2018, Bengaluru saw launches of 6,800 units as against 2,600 units in Hyderabad and 2,100 in Chennai. Recent data from a leading IPC also reveals that Hyderabad witnessed a 32 per cent growth in housing unit sales in the period between 2013-14 and 2017. What’s more, Kochi is expected to become amongst the preferred real estate destinations in India due to the various infrastructure developments in the city. And, South Chennai is said to be recording maximum demand, especially for ready-to-move-in segments, due to the presence of IT/ITeS companies.

Giving CWAB Regionals South 2018 a perfect start, Priyanka Padode, CEO, CW INTERIORS, spoke on the methodology and journey of CWAB. “The model started with a simple ceremony in 2006. In 2011, the awards took on a theme – one year ‘green’, one year ‘youth’, one year ‘glocal’, and so on. In 2016, with the SMART moves made by the Government and growth in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities gaining ground, we reached out to projects across the country and added a whole new category: NOTEWORTHY PROJECTS, and with that, a whole new process as well. And this year, we have added yet another dimension, to recognize Regional Players, which is what brings us all to this event today.”

Padode went on to announce the names of the nominees in the South region this year. This was followed by a roundtable  discussion on ‘What Buyers Want?’ moderated by Shriyal Sethumadhavan, Senior Assistant Editor, CONSTRUCTION WORLD. The panel comprised Indrajit Kembhavi, Principal, Kembhavi Architecture; Swaroop Anish, Executive Director, Prestige Constructions; Vineet Verma, Executive Director & CEO, Brigade Hospitality; Dr Hariharan, Chairman, Group BCIL and Co-Chair, IGBC Bangalore Chapter; Jipu Jose James, National Operations Director-Projects and Development Services, JLL India; Gita Ramanan, Chief Alchemist, Design Cafe.

The panelists discussed and deliberated upon the buyer preferences in the South. The discussion revolved around the real estate market in the South, followed by the role of design and planning to meet buyer requirement; how a strategic location with best-in-class amenities attracts more buyers; also, what’s trending – innovative and smart building technologies that meet buyer needs.

In the series of regional events, the first event was conducted in Kolkata (for the East region), the second in Pune (for the West Region), followed by New Delhi (for the North region) and today’s event in Bengaluru (for the South region).The final national event – CWAB 2018 – will take place on September 12^th in Mumbai, where winners from all four regions will be announced.

Corporate Comm India(CCI Newswire)