Awards 2005

Homes Overseas Magazine is the UK's leading overseas property title focused on UK residents interested in purchasing property overseas.

The Daily Telegraph, Britain's number one selling quality daily newspaper is the sponsor of the Homes Overseas Magazine Awards and also provides a number of the judges who determine the winners.

Judges for the Homes Overseas Magazine Awards include members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), respected property journalists and technical experts. Uniquely, these judges travel the world to assess short listed developments and awarding Gold, Silver and Bronze accolades to those of outstanding design, location and value for money.

Categories for the Homes Overseas Magazine Awards include special Awards for each country, and interest categories such as Best Golf development, Best Retirement development and Most Environmentally Aware development. There is also a single prize for Developer of the Year, open to all territories. General categories, as well as being open to the above territories, are now open to the rest of the world, and amongst these 23 hotly contested awards there is a specific award for 'best luxury development' in the world.

Pauline Leale, Managing Director of Dubai Luxury Homes, says, 'We are delighted to win this prestigious international award. The company is dedicated to providing an unsurpassed level of service to its clients and this award has further assisted us in being recognized as being one of the leading property firms not just locally but on the international stage.'

This award recognizes a top of the range development with no expense spared on design, finish, landscaping, security and customer care. The development should offer value for money, albeit at the higher end of the price range, and should reflect the highest quality standards demanded by luxury customers.

Late last year, Dubai Luxury Homes entered this category in conjunction with Arabtec Construction LLC, with the luxury Andalucia development in Emirates Hills.

Two independent judges were flown out from the UK to inspect the development and a finished villa, as well as reviewing the whole Dubai property market.

Not surprisingly, the judges whom had never before been to Dubai, were literally bowled over by the sheer scale and quality of all of the different developments under construction. As a result, having been short listed in the final five against properties in Malta, Spain and Portugal, Dubai Luxury Homes and Arabtec's Andalucia won the coveted Gold Award for best luxury development in the world. These unique homes are now all sold out, and are being custom built to individual owners requirements. Yet by international standards the judges believed that they not only offered good value and quality relative to other countries, but were impressively and tastefully designed and finished.

Whilst the Dubai property market has been booming over the past few years, the level of overseas interest particularly from the UK has only really taken off in the past six months. It is not surprising to see a Dubai development and real estate broker winning such a prestigious UK industry award. Given the extensive coverage of the awards in the UK, this is likely to help Dubai's image as one of the world's current top property destinations.