Who’s who: Meet the 8th PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards’ independent panel of judges

The panel shares their experiences behind the scenes from last year’s awards ceremony

PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards has celebrated and honoured the achievements of industry leaders and their iconic developments and designs for 17 years now. 

With the support and dedication of the independent panel of judges from each market — along with the supervisory expertise of HLB, an award-winning global network of auditing and accountancy firms — the programme has grown to become the biggest and most respected real estate awards programme in the region. 

The judges of the PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards, now in its 8th year, are among those who have been instrumental in keeping the standard of the Awards, as well as ensuring that the series remains credible, fair, and transparent – as it has been since its establishment.  

Each year, the panel members are mandated to follow stringent guidelines to guarantee that they aren’t associated with the candidates and to disengage from any professional or personal bias. 

Let us now learn more about last year’s process and the vibrant market from our highly respected independent panel of judges, who have all been gracious to devote their time and expertise to our awards programme:  

“When one developer wins, the others try to step up the game and try to match. All in all, it raises the bar and standards. Everyone is contributing to making Vietnam a better place with better design and better projects.” 

Thien Duong
Managing Director, Transform Architecture
Chairperson of the PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards judging panel since 2016
Chairperson of the PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards Grand Final jury panel since 2020 

“I think recognition of high-quality designs should be encouraged and I think that’s what PropertyGuru can do with the platform that we’re presenting.”

Alex Crane
Managing Director, Vietnam, Knight Frank
Judging panel member of the PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards since 2020

“With such a fast-paced growth and Vietnam being amongst the top contenders as a choice for making investments, credibility is key. From a legal and transactional perspective, it’s important that those awarded/recognised do carry through and deliver their promises to the market. The judging panel pulls together judges from all professions serving the real estate market/industry of Vietnam, with each of us adding our flavours to the outcome.”

Chau Ta
Executive Director – Legal Transactions, SC Capital Partners Pte Ltd.
Judging panel member of the PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards since 2016 (except for 2019) 

“Vietnam is an emerging market as most are in the region. However, there seems to be an attraction towards Vietnam from international investors that produce not only significant developments but the infrastructure that goes with it.”

David McDonald
General Director, WT Partnership (Vietnam) LLC
Judging panel member of the PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards since 2017 

“Over the years, we’ve seen Vietnam win regional [awards] due to the fact that we have improved in quality, in architecture, and the developers’ willingness to pay for the best and practical design.”

Duc Truong
CEO, OJS Investment & Consulting Ltd.
Chairman, Edison Academy Vietnam Ltd.
Judging panel member of the PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards since 2018

More: 8th PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards return to HCMC amid rising consumer confidence 

“The interesting thing we have seen this year is a growing trend towards green development and this, of course, benefits everybody in the community. We’ve also seen a trend of Vietnamese culture and representation of Vietnamese culture in projects that have come through, and I think that’s a very heartening sight.”

Edward Haysom
General Director, HAYSOM Architects Vietnam
Judging panel member of the PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards since 2017 

“The Vietnamese entries can compete with others in the Asia Property Awards Grand Final because Vietnamese developers, they are very smart and they learn very quick. All the projects at the moment are higher standards and are better than what they have done a few years ago.”

Hang Dang
Managing Director, CBRE (Vietnam) Co, Ltd.
Judging panel member of the PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards since 2017

“As an architect and as a judge, I would stay in my field. I will judge a project based on architecture, but not as an architecture teacher. I will not look at a project and say, ‘Oh, this one is more beautiful, impressive, or luxurious than this one.’ I judge architecture as a solution, as an answer to constraints.”

Jean-Francois Chevance
Group Director of Hospitality and Design, Archetype Group
Judging panel member of the PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards since 2020 

“This year (2021), there have been a lot of important new entries, especially on the higher level in the luxury category. What we noticed is Vietnam developers want to achieve better quality more and more and they target luxury products.”

Mauro Gasparotti
Director, Savills Hotels APAC
Judging panel member of the PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards since 2018 

“For the Vietnam judging panel, we’re going through experiences where we’re either locked down or locked out of the country. We’re all over the place and I think that even under these circumstances, we were able to really interact and really see what these projects are, see how they are gonna develop and take a look at these sights.”

Paul Volodarsky
Senior Associate, Deputy Head of Regional Real Estate, DFDL Legal and Tax
Judging panel member of the PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards since 2019 

Find out more about the judging process at asiapropertyawards.com/judging-process/