PROPERTY awards have been part and parcel of the London scene for years. Sean Mulryan’s Ballymore Group has been one of the Irish companies noted in the past for its cutting-edge developments, mainly in the London docklands.

Last week, the company was feted by the Russian property industry for the imaginative new town centre it recently unveiled in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava.

Ballymore executives were among 550 leading property developers at a gala event in the Warsaw Marriott Hotel when the Irish company got two awards – one for the Building of the Year 2010 and the other for the Retail Development of the Year 2010 in Central and Eastern Europe.

Ballymore has invested close to €270 million on the 30-acre riverfront Eurovea development, which includes the country’s largest shopping centre, a five-star Sheraton Hotel owned by Mulryan, an office complex, leisure and entertainment facilities and 250 apartments.

Happily, about 96 per cent of the retail space has been let with the help of anchor tenants Marks Spencer and Debenhams.

Ballymore’s interests in rejuvenation projects has meant that it has now largely switched its attention to London where it has ambitious plans to develop many of its dockland sites in the run up to the 2012 Olympics. It has also agreed a deal with American broadcaster NBC to accommodate its 300 staff during the Olympics at its Radisson Edwardian Hotel on Canary Wharf.