The main page at http://midimalta.com , the portal of Tignè Point developer Midi plc, proudly displays the long black label of the European Property Awards 2011 after the Sliema project scooped the Best Mixed Use Development in Europe title in September.
Midi’s competition is not the next development in Malta but top notch properties around the region
It is an important accolade and a significant achievement for the €600 million development, and sits neatly above the label for the European Business Awards 2010 at which Midi plc represented Malta after winning the Ruban D’Honneur.
And there is yet another leg on this road to international stardom: The winners in each category of the European Property Awards now face high scoring projects from Asia Pacific, Africa, the Americas and Arabia at the World’s Best ceremony at London’s Savoy Hotel on December 12.
Chief executive officer Ben Muscat explains it was the nod from the HSBC-sponsored European Business Awards last year which spurred Midi to enter the 17th annual European Property Awards, held in association with Bloomberg Television, late last spring.
“We made the decision as we were riding the crest of the European Business Awards,” Mr Muscat told The Times Business. “We entered in the mixed use category as we were confident we would score well due to the wide and holistic scope of the project. With hindsight, there were other categories we could have competed well in – perhaps next time.”
The rules were stringent and considerable effort and resources were directed at compiling the required competition brochure. The document illustrates the qualities of the development in a way which allows judges to place entries side by side and tick a long line of boxes. Mr Muscat describes the resulting document as a “handsome brochure” which laid out Midi’s philosophy, architecture, history, marketability, and market performance.
After being named Best Mixed Use Development in Malta, Midi plc took the project to the European stage. Held over several days at the Park Lane Hotel in London, the awards programme included high profile networking events.
With Google and The New York Times as associate sponsors, the likes of Franffurter Allgemeine among the media partners, and the British Institute of Interior Design among the supporters, prestige hung in the air.
Helen Shield, editor-in-chief of International Property Luxury Collection Magazine, chaired the panel of around 60 illustrious judges, among them Kate Burgess-Craddy, chairman of Visit USA, Peter Crome, managing director of Scotland’s Skibo Castle, and George Graham, development director of the Gleneagles Hotel.
Participants joined teams for morning and afternoon sessions and contributed to roundtable discussions on selected themes. Midi shared a table with representatives of entries from Cyprus, Turkey, Switzerland and the south of France to share ideas on architecture in the Mediterranean.
“That is when we truly appreciated how intense the competition is,” Mr Muscat recalls. “There was also an interesting discussion on marketing in the current business environment. The event drives home the fact that Midi’s competition is not the next development in Malta, but top notch properties around the region. In reality, all are pitching for the same clientele. Some are more skewed towards the Eastern European market, or Austria and Germany, others direct much of their effort at the Anglo Saxons. Competitive advantage comes with considerable investment and within the context of the country’s offering. The country offer is also important.”
Mr Muscat stressed that clientele looked far beyond a property’s characteristics when considering their options, and fiscal regimes to attract high net worth individuals also came into play. The regime to attract this niche clientele to Malta has recently been remodelled, and Mr Muscat said that some rough edges still needed to be smoothened, particularly to cut unnecessary bureaucracy. The chief executive conceded that as a small nation state Malta could not be quite as aggressive in its strategy to attract this client bracket, but it was important that the common denominator was met to preserve Malta’s competitiveness in the market.
We had certain expectations about what could be built at Tignè Point but there seemed to be other views
Midi, he said, will now go to the World’s Best event not quite knowing what to expect.
“Having made it so far, we are prudently optimistic,” he smiled. “The competition we have faced so far has been world class in its own right. The world event will also take the shape of a forum and will turn into a gathering of like-minded developers. It will certainly be interesting.”
Back home, Midi’s financials so far this year are in line with expectations. The company registered an interim pre-tax profit of €1.79 million to June, compared to last year’s first-half results of €0.84 million. The figure was attributed to the execution of final deeds of sale for residential units. Group revenues totalled €22.6 million, more than double the €9.1 million in the first half of 2010, mostly after 23 apartments were handed over to owners between January and June.
Mr Muscat pointed out that besides the finalisation of a collection of deeds of sale, Midi’s results were also positively impacted by efforts to cut costs in view of expected lower levels of activity than in previous years.
Tignè Point, he emphasised, was now in the throes of its final stages. All construction at Tignè South, including the T10 block, have been completed. Finishing touches are being made to the 22 apartments around the piazza which are expected to be introduced to the market in the next few weeks. All works on the north side of the peninsula have been completed, including a major investment in the basements underlying this part of the development. The project here included garages and parking spaces, plant rooms, access roads and services. Restoration works on Fort Manoel continued.
Plans for a high rise tower, widely contested by residents of the wider Sliema area, were scrapped after the negotiations for permits were becoming too complicated and long-drawn out, Mr Muscat explained.
“We were originally planning to shift already approved volumes from elsewhere in the project into this tower, but when it proved an insurmountable task, we decided to move on and complete Tignè Point. The time has come to have a definite completion date for the project,” the chief executive added.
“We had certain expectations on what could be built at Tignè Point, but there seemed to be other views. We resolved that to avoid further delays it would be better to submit plans that are totally within volumes that are permissible in Tignè Point and get on with it.”
Midi now awaits planning permission for the north development which comprises T17, a project for 102 apartments in two blocks, and T14 which will encompass 12,000 square metres of dedicated office space expected to boost Sliema’s business offering.
Mr Muscat said the company hoped the consultation process of the north development’s visual impact would be concluded in the next three weeks, so that the authorities could then begin the planning permission process. After the green light, Midi will proceed with a tendering process so that works to begin closing off Tignè Point will start.
“Tignè Point is doing well as a destination,” he said. “There is the retail centre, the piazza – and its own retail offering which we hope to complement with catering – the restaurants on the foreshore are establishing themselves as a destination themselves. Tignè Fort will be an important component of the overall destination once it is complete. With further landscaping on the Qui-Si-Sana side, the whole project will come together and will be much stronger attraction for Maltese and visitors.
“We are in the proverbial final stages but I am very cautious about putting dates to anything. It is a time for prudence. Every decision will be taken after considerable deliberation to ensure that the product we put on the market is timely. For now, I will put our target date around 2014 or 2015, depending on how things develop.”