Public vote to decide most valuable building in Valka and Smiltene areas
Organisers of the “Building of the Year in Latvia 2025” contest are inviting residents to vote for the construction project that brings the greatest benefit to society, with two entries from the Valka area and one from Smiltene in the running. Voting runs until 7 September.
The “Building of the Year in Latvia 2025” contest, organised by the Latvian Builders' Association and the Latvian Association of Civil Engineers together with Ceresit, is calling on the public to take part in evaluating this year's construction projects. A jury has already assessed 74 entries in three rounds, covering buildings and structures completed in 2025 both in Latvia and abroad. One of the judging criteria is the benefit a project brings to society, and for the third year running, the public itself gets to weigh in on that particular measure through an online vote.
Entries from the Ziemeļvidzeme region
Three projects from the Ziemeļvidzeme region are among those up for a public vote. In the “Landscape structure” category, residents can support either Valka's Mežaparks on Rūjienas Street or Smiltene's active recreation park “Smiltiņš” on Gaujas Street. In the “Engineering structure” category, the nominee is the Pedele bridge together with the Pedele river road, located between the Valka and Ērģeme parishes.
How the voting works
People can cast their vote in two ways — by filling out an online voting form or by expressing support on the contest's official Facebook page. Votes from both channels will be combined. The entry that receives the most votes overall will receive a special prize from the contest's title sponsor, Ceresit. Voting closes on 7 September at 17:00, and winners across all categories will be announced on 10 September.
The “Building of the Year in Latvia” contest is now in its 28th year. Besides its main organisers, it is supported by a broad network of partners, including 17 industry organisations, the State Construction Control Bureau, the state real estate company VNI, the Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments, and several universities, among them Riga Technical University and the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies.
