UOL received recognition at the 2024 Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) Awards, with Pan Pacific Orchard and Avenue South Residence winning multiple awards across various categories. Group Chief Executive Liam Wee Sin, our consultants (WOHA and ADDP) and contractor (United Tec Construction) accepted the accolades at a dinner ceremony held in London on 25 September 2024.

Pan Pacific Orchard emerged as one of the biggest winners with its submission titled “Nature Positive Vertical Urbanism”, clinching the night’s most prestigious Best Tall Building Worldwide award. Some notable past winners include architectural marvel Vancouver House by Bjarke Ingels Group in Vancouver (2021), Shanghai Tower by Gensler in Shanghai (2016), Bosco Verticale Torre E by Boeri Studio in Milan (2015) and One Central Park by Ateliers Jean Nouvel in Sydney (2014).

Pan Pacific Orchard also won two overall category awards: Best Tall Building, by Height, 100-199 metres and the Space Within Award; and an Award of Excellence for Best Tall Building for Asia. Avenue South Residence bagged two Awards of Excellence – the Construction Award and Innovation Award.

Judged by an international panel of experts, the CTBUH Annual Awards are highly sought after by top design consultants worldwide. The winning projects must also exhibit processes and/or innovations that have added to the profession of design and enhance the cities and the lives of the inhabitants. In addition, Award of Excellence winners will have to present their projects to an international audience and live juries, to compete for the overall category award, culminating in the highest accolade being conferred by the Council, being the “Best Tall Building (Worldwide) Award”.

The Best Tall Building Award recognises extraordinary contributions to the advancement of tall buildings and the urban environment, and that achieve sustainability and human well-being at the highest and broadest level. While the buildings highlighted may not always be the tallest each year, they stand out for embodying the best qualities and innovations in their typology.

The Space Within Award recognises tall building projects that have integrated extraordinary interior spaces within, which demonstrate exceptional functional success in terms of the user experience and take the solutions and possibilities for interior space design to the next level.

Mr Liam said: “It is a tremendous honour for Pan Pacific Orchard to win the Best Tall Building Worldwide 2024 award. This recognition places us among the world’s best and highlights the collaborative efforts of UOL and WOHA in pioneering biophilic architecture. We remain committed to creating differentiated products to showcase high density, high amenity green buildings, to achieve positive outcomes in terms of sustainability and liveability.”

Co-Founder of WOHA Wong Mun Summ, thanked the Council for the award and UOL during his acceptance speech. He said: “This project marks the culmination of 25 years of collaboration with UOL. We thank Mr Liam for his openness to new ideas and commitment to innovation. Pan Pacific Orchard demonstrates that we can do more in our buildings for nature, with nature. It pushed the boundaries on tall building design, bringing nature and amenities into multiple levels to deliver a highly sustainable and liveable environment. We must remember we are part of nature.”

Pan Pacific Orchard’s ‘Hotel in Nature’ concept seamlessly extends nature skywards with integrated gardens and landscaped cores, achieving a green plot ratio of more than 300 per cent. The urban-scale sky terraces, organised around a six-storey guestroom block incorporate elevated green spaces and amenity activities, with direct access to gardens, daylight, fresh air and social spaces.

Avenue South Residence was constructed with Prefabricated Prefinished Volumetric Construction (PPVC) to improve productivity and safety in high-rise construction, and to reduce waste and lower carbon emissions. It is the world’s tallest residential building developed using PPVC, standing at 192 metres.

This year, over 100 exemplary projects in the architecture, engineering and construction industry were recognised across more than 20 categories and subcategories around the globe.

Here’s the full list of CTBUH awards won by UOL:
Pan Pacific Orchard

• Best Tall Building Worldwide (Winner)
• Best Tall Building, by Height, 100-199 meters (Winner)
• Space Within Award (Winner)
• Best Tall Building, by Region, Asia (Award of Excellence)

Avenue South Residence

• Construction Award (Award of Excellence)
• Innovation Award (Award of Excellence)