Celebrating the best and brightest in the building industry

The GTA home-building and land-development industry honoured achievements in city building and celebrated the year’s best work in design, sales and marketing at the 37th annual BILD Awards.

A panel of 17 expert judges from across North America narrowed down more than 900 submissions to determine the winners in 51 categories, presented at the annual gala dinner held on Friday.

Tridel and Mattamy Homes were crowned Home Builders of the Year with Tridel winning the title for mid/highrise and Mattamy Homes receiving the honour in the lowrise division.

These prestigious awards go to the builders who set the standard through their leadership in improving the overall image of the building and development industry. Customer satisfaction is a key component of the judging process for these awards and results from a survey of recent home buyers of the builder’s communities helped determine the winners.

A highlight of the evening was when we presented Al Libfeld, CEO and co-founder of Tribute Communities, with our highest honour, the BILD Lifetime Achievement Award. In his four decades as a leader in the industry, Al has built thousands of homes and numerous buildings and communities. A city builder, he has made an immeasurable contribution to the industry and to BILD, and also to our region.

The coveted People’s Choice Award, determined by members of the public through online voting, went to Tridel’s Aquabella development. The projects vying for this year’s title showcased the best in city building and demonstrated how the industry is providing a wide range of housing options for GTA home buyers.

The award for Green Builder of the Year in mid/highrise went to Tridel, which has a long history of winning the title. Minto Communities won in the lowrise category. Both companies were recognized for their outstanding leadership in green building practices.

Two companies were recognized for their achievements in building and designing outstanding communities that embody the province’s smart growth principles. For its work in Downtown Markham, the Remington Group won the award for Best New Community (Built). Emphasizing sustainability and neighbourhood integration, Remington’s Downtown Markham includes features such as green roofs, pedestrian-only promenades and an innovative storm water management system.

Rockport Group won the award for Best New Community (Planned/ Under Development) for Weston Common, a development that will create a vibrant community hub featuring 26 affordable artist live/ work units and enhanced outdoor public space in Toronto’s Weston neighbourhood, an area that hasn’t seen major development in 40 years.

The Rockport Group also won the award for Best Midrise Building design for George Condos + Town, its development in Leslieville that combines esthetic appeal, creativity, neighbourhood integration and optimal use of land.

The Project of the Year, Lowrise title went to Geranium and the Pemberton Group for their Friday Harbour development on Lake Simcoe, while Tridel’s Aquabella development on Toronto’s waterfront was selected as the Mid/Highrise Project of the Year.

The award for Best Overall Marketing Campaign went to the team of CentreCourt Developments, LA Inc. and Brandon Communications for their Axis campaign.

This is just a small sample of the award winners and the great work being done by the entire homebuilding and land development industry in the GTA. To learn more and see the complete list of winners visit bildblogs.ca. Bryan Tuckey is president and CEO of the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) and is a land-use planner who has worked for municipal, regional and provincial governments. Find him at twitter.com/ bildgta, facebook.com/bildgta and bildblogs.ca.