The jury emphasized the value of the Markthal in contributing to Rotterdam and specifically the Laurens Quarter around it, saying ‘This is much more than a building…the Markthal is the culmination of a long-term operation [displaying] excellent public-private partnership and risk sharing.’

The prize, awarded every two years to a groups of developers and government bodies, honours developments which utilise exemplary collaboration between the public and private sectors to create cohesive urban districts. This year, the jury looked for innovative design solutions and cooperative approaches which responded to the fundamental challenges of today’s property market. Projects nominated for the award must include the development of the public realm, and at least 25% of the program must be developed for the open market, which can include programs such as housing, retail, offices or hotels.

The Markthal beat four other projects which were nominated, in Utrecht, Almere and Amsterdam out of a total of twenty-seven entries. This year’s jury included chairman Josja van der Veer (director of the Campus Facitilites organisation of the VU University Amsterdam), Hannie Kunst (former alderman for urban development at the Municipality of Nijmegen), Willem Hein Schenk (Chairman of the BNA) Geurt of Randeraat (director SITE Urban Development), Bernard Hulsman (editor and architecture critic, NRC Handelsblad) and Job van Zomeren (director ERA Contour, on behalf of the winner of the NEPROM Prize 2013).

The Markthal has received over three million visitors in the six months since then. The arch of 228 apartments covering 96 fresh produce stalls, was opened by Queen Maxima of the Netherlands in October 2014, and has received significant attention from the international media ever since. Winy Maas was awarded the Rotterdam Marketing Award together with the Director of development company Provast to honour the success of the building. The Markthal also won the MIPIM Award for Best Shopping Centre, a prestigious prize from the world’s largest real estate fair, and has also been nominated for the Royal Institute of Dutch Architect’s (BNA) Building of the year award.

NEPROM (The Association of Dutch Project Development Companies) was founded in 1974 and aims to promote cooperation between government and developers in the development of real estate projects. NEPROM had 50 member companies as of July 2014, who develop an estimated 50% of all new homes, approximately 70% of the floor area of new or renovated office spaces and approximately 80% of the surface area of planned (re) developed shopping centers in the Netherlands.