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27/F Nex Tower, 6786 Ayala Avenue
nova

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Boutique developer wins big in Shanghai (Part two)

POSTED ON
AUGUST 28, 2019

Last two questions with Nova Managing Director Ricardo Cuerva, who shared with us what’s in store for Nova.

What’s the winning design intent behind NEX?

Quite simply, we sought to create the finest workplace you could possibly build on that site. We commissioned SOM, the best architects in the world for office towers, we sourced the finest materials globally for the project and we embedded ourselves and lived on the site from day one up to completion to make every design decision required to make that happen. The formula isn’t much different from when we developed and built Essensa, which changed the landscape for luxury residential high rise back in 2000.

Sustainability is a word that’s thrown around a lot in the industry, but from the outset, we made a strong commitment to reach for the highest green standards for the project. We didn’t treat sustainability as a mere checklist for compliance, but we went beyond that and built truly innovative features such as the massive green wall in the lobby and multiple garden spaces throughout the building.

What’s in the pipeline for Nova?

We are in the planning stages of a new office high-rise project that will be even more extraordinary than NEX Tower. It will raise the bar for commercial real estate even higher. I’m unable to share more details for now, but you’ll definitely hear more about it soon.

When building NEX Tower, the developer focused on providing an open and inspiring environment for tenants, visitors and the greater community. This included an integrated approach to health and wellness that utilizes biophilic design and carefully manages natural resources. The unique approach helped the tower achieve the highest sustainability criteria. Mario Veloso, director of VelcoAsia, remarked, “We envision NEX Tower as the premier workspace for leading companies that value integrity, professionalism and entrepreneurship, and we welcome these companies as our tenants.”

Ame Engelhart, ULI trustee and awards chairman, commended the high quality of project submissions for the awards program. She observed, “It’s nice that we can have an Asia Pacific award to recognize projects that often come from large, super high-density cities such as the Greater Bay Area, Singapore and Metro Manila. These cities have many more challenges than a lot of North America and European cities…it’s good to be able to adjudicate projects based on the constraints and opportunities in Asia.”

The full list of awardees of the 2019 ULI Asia Pacific Awards of Excellence includes:

  • Aoyama Building, Tokyo, Japan (Developer: GreenOak Investment Management K.K., Co-Owner: Mitsubishi Estate Co. Ltd.)
  • Barrack Place, Sydney, Australia (Developer: Investa Property Group, Owner: IOF Custodian Pty. Ltd.; Designers: Architectus Group Pty. Ltd.)
  • COFCO Landmark Plaza, Beijing, China (Developer: COFCO Group; Designers: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Llp., Beijing Institute of Architectural Design)
  • Fish Lane, Brisbane, Australia (Developer: Aria Property Group, Owner: Brisbane City Council; Designers: Archipelago, RPS, Urbis)
  • Guoco Tower, Singapore (Developer: TPC Commercial Pte. Ltd.; Designers: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Llp.)
  • Knowledge and Innovation Community, Shanghai, China (Developer: Shui On Land; Designers: Skidmore, Ownings & Merrill Llp., Palmer & Turner, Atkins, Charpentier Architecture Design, Terry Farrell & Partners, Tongji Design Institute, BWSS, Gensler, Tianhua, Leigh & Orange, Hassell, 3XN, AECOM, EMBT)
  • Lingnan Tiandi LNTD Lot 1, Foshan, Guangdong, China (Developer: Shui On Land; Designers: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Llp., Ben Wood Studio Shanghai)
  • NEX Tower, Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines (Developer: Nova Group; Designers: Skidmore, Owings and Merrill Llp., R. Villarosa Architects, Nova Construction, Sy2 Associates)
  • Pacific Place, Hong Kong SAR, China (Developer: Swire Properties Limited; Designers: Wong and Ouyang (HK) Ltd., Heatherwick Studio, AFSO)
  • People’s Place, Kai Yip Recreation Centre, Hong Kong SAR, China (Developer: Gaw Capital Partners-Led Consortium; Designer: SLAB, Trilingua Design, One Bite Social Design).