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Funan Capitaland

Funan Set to Open Singapore’s First O&O Shopping Mall in mid-2019

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Funan is racing ahead to open Singapore’s first online-and- offline (O&O) shopping mall integrating online, offline, data and logistics aimed at empowering retailers’ omnichannel strategy and transforming the customer experience. The retail as well as its office components are now slated to open in 2Q 2019, instead of the earlier announced 3Q 2019. The opening of lyf Funan Singapore, a coliving serviced residence component within Funan, managed by The Ascott Limited, has also been brought forward from 2020 to 4Q 2019.

Owned by CapitaLand Mall Trust and managed by CapitaLand Retail, Funan recently celebrated its structural completion ahead of schedule. The topping out ceremony held at Funan Showsuite was officiated by Guest of Honour Mr Heng Swee Keat, Singapore’s Minister for Finance. From groundbreaking to structural completion, Funan took about 19 months. To date, 72 percent of the overall construction has already been completed.

At the topping out event in September 2018, Minister Heng Swee Keat was given a preview of a range of digital innovations coming up at Funan. These include a smart interactive directory that uses facial recognition to provide shoppers with customised recommendations, video analytics that studies shopper traffic and crowd density and an all-in-one app for Ascott’s lyf coliving serviced residence – the first app by a serviced residence company that will allow social networking and room booking; and will also serve as a mobile key.

CapitaLand also showcased its groupwide innovations as part of its digitalisation strategy, including a merchant dashboard that enables retailers to tap consumer insights generated by CapitaLand’s CapitaStar loyalty programme and eCapitaVoucher, the digital version of CapitaVoucher – Singapore’s most popular shopping mall voucher – launching this November.

Funan’s innovation journey has scored several “firsts” in Singapore. These include the first to deploy automated guided vehicles to provide shoppers with a hands-free shopping experience and the first to utilise a robotic arm for its twenty-four-hour drive-through click-and-collect service. As part of Funan’s tech-enabled user experience, building users can also expect conveniences such as app-based booking of facilities within the development, video-based smart carparking facilities and facial recognition turnstiles at its office towers.

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Raffles City Chongqing to Open in Phases from Q2 in 2019

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CapitaLand recently welcomed the visit by Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean to the development site of Raffles City Chongqing located on the historic Chaotianmen, known as the crown jewel of Chongqing in southwest China.

In a progress report to Mr Teo, CapitaLand updated that construction on Raffles City Chongqing is about 80 percent completed and the 1.12-million-square-metre megastructure is on track to open in phases from 2Q next year.

Recognised as a symbol of strong ties between China and Singapore, Raffles City Chongqing will be home to the Sino-Singapore Collaboration Centre, an initiative by CapitaLand and Chongqing’s Yuzhong District government aimed at bridging companies pursuing cross-border expansion to the immense growth opportunities in Chongqing.

Mr Lim Ming Yan, President & Group CEO of CapitaLand Group, said: “Raffles City Chongqing is a landmark urban renewal project that expresses and shapes Chongqing’s global city aspirations. As the investor and master developer of this historical site, our goal is to create a vibrant riverfront urban district that serves as a dynamic city gateway befitting of Chongqing’s growing economic influence. Bringing this megastructure to life requires not just astute project and capital management on CapitaLand’s part, but also the strong support from the government, our partners and the local residents. We are heartened that the residential component of Raffles City Chongqing has been well received by the market, selling 90 percent of the 500 apartments launched to date.”

Singapore’s largest single development in China at RMB24 billion (about S$4.9 billion), Raffles City Chongqing began construction more than five years ago. It comprises a retail podium and eight skyscrapers for residential, office, serviced residence and hotel use, of which the tallest two measure 350 metres in height.

A distinctive design feature of the development is The Conservatory, a 250-metre-high sky bridge housing a rich array of amenities – including a viewing gallery, sky gardens, an infinity pool and restaurants – that sits above four of the skyscrapers and is linked to two other skyscrapers by cantilever bridges.

Featuring a host of architectural and engineering breakthroughs, Raffles City Chongqing boasts the world’s highest sky bridge linking the most number of towers, China’s tallest residential tower and Chongqing’s tallest building. To date, six out of the eight skyscrapers have topped out.

Occupying 9.2 hectares of site area, Raffles City Chongqing brings together a 230,000-sq m shopping mall, 160,000-sq m of Grade A office space, 1,400 residential apartments, Ascott Raffles City Chongqing serviced residence and a luxury hotel – with a total construction floor area of 1.12 million sq m and gross floor area (excluding car park) of about 817,000 sq m.

The development is strategically located on Chaotianmen at the confluence of Yangtze and Jialing rivers in Yuzhong District, next to the traditional Jiefangbei central business district.

Raffles City Chongqing is CapitaLand’s eighth Raffles City development in China. The seven others in Beijing, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Shanghai (with two Raffles City developments) and Shenzhen are operational.

Including Raffles City Singapore, the nine Raffles City developments in Singapore and China span about 4 million sq m and will be worth about S$15.0 billion (about RMB72.7 billion) when fully completed.

Tender Awarded For Integrated Retail, Dining And Entertainment Development In SKYCITY

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Airport Authority Hong Kong (AA) recently announced that Roxy Limited, a subsidiary wholly-owned by New World Development Company Limited, has been awarded the right to develop and manage a world-class destination commercial development (Site A2 and A3, the Development) in SKYCITY at Hong Kong International Airport.

The Development is a crucial part of the overall long-term development of HKIA. The award follows an open tender exercise held earlier, which received a number of strong bids from local and international developers and retail operators.

Scheduled to be opened in phases from 2023 to 2027, the Development, adjacent to HKIA’s passenger terminals, will provide a maximum gross floor area of 350,000 square metres, with retail, dining and state-of-the-art entertainment facilities tailor-made for visitors and local residents of different ages. Under the agreement, Roxy Limited will design, construct, finance and manage the Development, which will be the largest integrated retail, dining and entertainment development in Hong Kong.

Apart from the Development, a hotel is being developed on another site of SKYCITY(Site A1a), for which Regal Hotels Group has been awarded the development and management right earlier. The new hotel is scheduled to be opened in the year 2020-2021.

SKYCITY occupies approximately 25 hectares of land and benefit from the customer base of HKIA which served 72.9 million passengers in the past year. The passenger traffic at HKIA is projected to rise to more than 100 million by 2030 with the completion of the Three-runway System. SKYCITY will also tap into the full potential brought by the Tuen Mun-Chek Lap Kok Link and Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge that will greatly enhance the connectivity is well-positioned to of the SKYCITY not only within Hong Kong, but also the Pearl River Delta.

Marina One Wins Best Innovative Green Building At The MIPIM Awards 2018

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Marina One has won Best Innovative Green Building at the MIPIM Awards 2018. The MIPIM Awards celebrates the most outstanding property projects globally. This year, the 28th MIPIM Awards took place on 15 March 2018 at a gala ceremony held in the Grand Auditorium of the Palais des Festivals in Cannes.

Developed by M+S Pte Ltd (M+S), Marina One together with its sister project DUO are two landmark properties borne out of the historic 2010 Singapore and Malaysia land swap deal.

“The team at M+S is extremely proud to win this prestigious accolade. Since the inception of the project, we have set out with a clear vision to be a game changer in the way people live, work and play. Marina One’s Green Heart was a bold decision on our part to have a diverse garden which binds the four towers together. This creates a park-like environment where the community can meaningfully interact with nature, within a development that is designed with sustainability at its core,” said Kemmy Tan, CEO of M+S.

Marina One is designed by Christoph Ingenhoven from Ingenhoven Architects, a world- renowned leader in sustainable architecture. The Green Heart, a core feature of Marina One, was designed in close cooperation with London-based landscape architects Gustafson Porter + Bowman and ICN Design International, its local partner.

The Green Heart was conceived as a civic space which serves as an urban oasis for workers in and around Marina One to enjoy. Today, the development is home to global multinational corporations including Swiss private bank Julius Baer, consultancy PwC Singapore, co-working space provider JustCo, financial services provider Prudential, ride hailing platform Grab, agri- business Olam International, BP Global, Daiwa Capital, and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG). The Green Heart provides a sanctuary for people from these companies as well as the area around to enjoy respite from the hustle and bustle of the Central Business District (CBD).

Spanning 65,000 square feet, the Green Heart houses a total of 386 different plant species and special technologies to recreate a three-storey waterfall. Featuring an open, heart- shaped green core with multiple stepped gardens and designed with lower and mid-level sky terraces and waterfalls, the Green Heart is the only biodiversity garden within the Marina Bay CBD of this scale. Together with the rest of the greenery housed within the development, it forms a space equivalent to five Olympic sized swimming pools.

As a sustainable development, Marina One has set the standard for the rest of Asia to follow, achieving LEED Platinum pre-certification and BCA Green Mark Platinum certification. The organic shape of the building complex with its iconic louvres and the verdant greenery contributes to an improvement of the microclimate and richness of biodiversity within the development.

The compact and efficient layout is complemented by energy-saving ventilation systems, highly effective external solar screening devices, and glaring that reduces solar radiation into the building. Other sustainable features include rainwater harvesting to promote water efficiency, regenerative lift braking, LED lighting controlled by motion sensors and advanced air handling units, to enable energy efficiency.

“M+S has been a pioneer in delivering large-scale integrated projects which have changed the Singapore skyline and achieved new heights in defining sustainability within developments. This award, together with our success in attracting new homeowners and global MNCs to the development, is an endorsement of our efforts in pushing the boundaries of integrated living and sets our developments apart as coveted properties of the future,” concluded Kemmy Tan.

Hamad International Airport Ranked 5th Best Airport In The World By Skytrax World Airport Awards 2018

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Hamad International Airport has been ranked the 5th best airport in the world at the SKYTRAX World Airport Awards 2018, which took place during the Passenger Terminal Expo 2018 in Stockholm, Sweden. HIA has also been honoured with the title of ‘Best Airport in the Middle East’ for the fourth year in a row and ‘Best Staff Service in the Middle East’ for the third year in a row.

The award recognises HIA’s innovative facilities, five-star customer service and state-of-the-art terminal which can accommodate more than 30 million passengers annually. The terminal has been described as the most architecturally significant terminal complex in the world, as well as being the most luxurious.

Commenting on the results of the Skytrax World Airport Awards, Engr. Badr Mohammed Al Meer, Chief Operating Officer at Hamad International Airport stated: “HIA sets itself apart from other airports with its optimised passenger journey, unmatched retail offering, five-star customer service, punctuality, cleanliness, iconic architecture and unique art programme, making the airport a destination on its own. These Skytrax results mark yet another milestone in HIA’s journey in solidifying its position as one of the world’s best airports. We are grateful to our passengers who gave us their trust and endorsement during the voting process.

Mr. Al Meer continued: “In spite of the challenging situation in the region, HIA succeeded in proving its resiliency by maintaining 5 Star passenger’ experience, and smooth operations.

As we are gearing up to welcome more than 50 million travellers by 2022, we will continue to invest in our facilities, services and the newest technologies to provide a world-class passenger experience.”

The Skytrax World Airport Awards are a global benchmark of airport excellence, based on 12.85 million customer nominations across 110 nationalities of air travellers, and include 410 airports worldwide. The survey evaluates customer satisfaction across 39 key performance indicators for airport service and product – from check-in, arrivals, transfers, shopping, security and immigration, through to departure at the gate.

HIA – The Gateway to Qatar and to the World
Positioned at the edge of the Arabian Gulf, Hamad International Airport’s tranquil waterside setting provides a perfect backdrop for its stylish architectural elements, underpinned by advanced airport systems in line with its ‘Smart Airport’ vision.

Operating 24/7, the airport features two runways, a state-of-the-art air traffic control tower and currently processes 30 million passengers per year and 360,00 aircrafts per year. With over 40,000 square meters of combined retail, food and beverage facilities, unmatched spa facilities and a collection of unique art pieces from internationally acclaimed artists, HIA is a destination on its own, designed for the modern traveller.

John Mcaslan + Partners And Woods Bagot Are Lead Designers On Sydney’s Central Station

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John McAslan + Partners and Woods Bagot are the architectural partners delivering the Sydney Metro upgrade to Central Station, a key component of the Sydney Metro City & Southwest project.

The renewal of Australia’s biggest railway station is underway, with a recent announcement that Laing O’Rourke has won the $955 million contract for the Sydney Metro City & Southwest upgrade of Central Station, including Central Walk. The station is a key one within the $20 billion Sydney Metro project, Australia’s biggest public transport infrastructure project.

Jointly leading the multi-disciplinary, international design team are architects John McAslan + Partners and Woods Bagot, whose bold, can-do architecture will give the station an entirely new functional and experiential vibe.

Key heritage qualities of the 112-year-old station will be emphasised along with the introduction of new architecturally-inspiring elements as part of a scheme that amplifies Central Station as a Sydney icon. Signalling a step-change in the station’s functional, urban and cultural contributions to the city, the project will trigger much higher levels of people-movement and energy, and wider civic and commercial renewal.

The design team has impeccable credentials. Renowned UK architect John McAslan + Partners designed the highly celebrated and multi-awarded regeneration of London’s King’s Cross Station, restoring the 170-year-old station and adding a highly innovative concourse to accommodate up to 150,000 passengers per day. Woods Bagot’s exemplary transformation of Sydney’s Wynyard Walk commuter link injects civic, cultural and commercial energy by connecting Wynyard Station with Barangaroo and the waterfront.

Below ground, the atmospheric qualities of volume, surface, and natural light characterise the design scheme for the Central Station upgrade. With respect to existing hierarchies of arches and materials, the proposal has a clear relationship with Walter Vernon’s architecture of the station above. While the interfaces between old and new will be quite distinct, they will be architectural segues rather than jump-cuts.

The Central Station metro upgrade includes the main concourse, Central Walk (connecting the Sydney Metro platforms to Chalmers Street), northern concourse (interface between the new metro and the existing station) and the metro box platforms.

Central Station is the backbone of Sydney’s public transport network, with more than 250,000 people passing through the station every day. That number is forecast to grow to 450,000 in the next two decades. The Central Walk concourse will better connect customers to trains, buses, light rail and the new Sydney Metro. Features of Central Walk include:

  • A 19-metre wide tunnel from Chalmers Street, linking to new metro platforms under Central
  • New, easy access points to Sydney Trains platforms 16 to 23
  • Escalators directly to suburban platforms for the first time.

As Sydney director Domenic Alvaro explains, the project is a significant win for Woods Bagot and the result of the firm’s deliberate expansion in the Australian transport sector.

Sydney Metro is Australia’s largest public transport project. It will transform Sydney, delivering more trains and faster services for customers across the network. A new stand-alone railway network, Sydney Metro is the solution to clearing the city’s public transport bottlenecks and will deliver a quality of rail service never before seen in Australia.

Sydney Metro City & Southwest will extend metro rail between Chatswood and Bankstown, including a new crossing beneath Sydney Harbour, new railway stations in the lower North Shore and CBD, and the upgrade and conversion of the current line between Sydenham and Bankstown.

USG Boral to Invest US$20 Million in Vietnam to Expand Production

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Plasterboard production line to be expanded to meet growing demands

USG Boral, a global leader in building products technology, announced its plans to expand production in Vietnam, with a USD20 million investment in a plant at Hiep Phuoc Industrial Zone, Ho Chi Minh City.

The plant will support USG Boral’s commitment to the Vietnam market as the company works towards meeting the growing demand for high-quality plasterboards.

The production capacity for plasterboard is currently at 30 million m2. The new facility is set to increase production capacity by 17 million m2 and is targeted to reach a total capacity of 47 million m2 once it commences operations in September 2019.

“We have witnessed strong growth from this region so our decision to invest in the plant is a strategic one. We remain committed to building USG Boral’s presence in Southeast Asia. This expansion will see

USG Boral Vietnam plant in Ho Chi Minh City

USG Boral utilising our latest Sheetrock technology to provide superior building solutions for the Vietnam market,” said Mr. Frederic de Rougemont, CEO of USG Boral.

“We have seen demands for building materials rise rapidly in Vietnam’s expanding construction industry. The addition of this new capacity will allow USG Boral to continue to provide high quality products and services to our customers,” said Mr. Tran Thanh Sang, General Director, USG Boral Vietnam.

USG Boral was the first global corporation to establish a plasterboard production facility in Vietnam, commencing operations in 2006. Since then USG Boral has been a leader in the industry, supplying products to many of the major developments throughout the country. Their flagship products include SHEETROCK®, FireBloc, Durock® and Fiberock® which are adopted by contractors, homeowners and architects.

HOIANA Integrated Resort Set to Boost Economic Development in Central Vietnam

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Central Vietnam is fast emerging as the new hot tourist destination in Asia, and its position as a ‘must visit’ destination will be further cemented with the opening of HOIANA in 2019, Vietnam’s first world-class integrated resort (IR). Located between Danang, Vietnam’s third-largest city, and Hoi An, a UNESCO World Heritage site, HOIANA, the giant US$4 billion venture on the outskirts of Hoi An, is now set to join the IR club, with the first phase scheduled to open in 2019.

The opening will be headlined by a world-class casino, an ultra-luxury Rosewood Hotels & Resorts®, a 445-room hotel and 200 buy-to-let condos; and a championship golf course-country club by Robert Trent Jones II. Recreational facilities will include a beach club and entertainment venue for live shows and events, water sports and dive centre, and a promenade packed with bars and restaurants.

Over the next 10 to 15 years, HOIANA’s master development plan envisages a host of complementary tourism and leisure-related projects through subsequent development phases. The ultimate vision is a thriving township of hotels, residential and lifestyle zones, trendy beachfront village, convention centre, hospitality training college, water sports hub, and a giant lagoon for safe year-round swimming. It is estimated that Phase One will create 2,000 jobs for local residents.

“HOIANA is set to rank among Asia’s most renowned resort destinations, offering a self-contained world of entertainment, leisure, pleasure and luxury lifestyle,” says HOIANA’s Head of Business Development, Ms Amy Do. “This unrivalled, world class integrated resort and leisure playground will set a new benchmark for high-end tourism in Vietnam, bringing economic prosperity and opportunity to Quang Nam province.”

The developers have committed to establishing a hospitality school that will train employees not only for HOIANA, but other tourism businesses in this growing region.

“HOIANA is set to be destination for visitors and residents alike. Beyond directly creating thousands of jobs, HOIANA will play an important role in supporting businesses in the community. This development is truly a game changer for the central Vietnam region,” concluded Ms. Do.

Masterplan for Jurong Lake District Singapore Unveiled

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The Singapore Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) recently unveiled the masterplan for Jurong Lake District , the city’s future second Central Business District.

KCAP Architects&Planners leads a multi-disciplinary team consisting of SAA Architects, Arup, S333 and Lekker, and is responsible for many of the key ideas  in the plan.

A Distinctive Identity
The ambition is to develop the area into a new mixed-use business area built around the future Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail terminus. This will further anchor Jurong Lake District as Singapore’s second Central Business District. Qualities of the plan are its high- density mixed-use programme, which incorporates new waterways and a series of stacked horizontal landscape datum and connections that weave through the entire district. This helps create a distinctive identity for Singapore and its vision as a “City in the Garden”.

A Dialogue Between High-Density Urban Sustainability and Heritage
The high-density urban typology maximises vertical urban greenery within a vertical city next to the beautiful Jurong Lake Gardens and creates a streetscape network for active mobility, walkability and interactive public spaces.

The integrated, sustainable urban systems maximise the streetscape by proposing to place all major transport and engineering below the city, which creates layers of optimised infrastructure and a car-lite district. Existing heritage buildings, landscapes and ecosystems are respected and repurposed in the new development.

With its strategic location, open environment and live-work-play programming, the area will become a new gateway to Singapore and can also be the new hub for a emerging science and innovation corridor in West Singapore.

A dedicated website for the project has been launched at www.jld.sg and a flythrough video of Singapore’s next CBD can be found here.

SolarPVExchange to Power Cambodia’s First Eco-Friendly Condominium

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SolarPVExchange, a subsidiary of Sunseap group, Singapore’s leading clean energy provider, announced today that it has signed an agreement with Spring CJW Development Pte Ltd to build a solar photovoltaic (PV) system which will help power up its first eco-friendly residential development in Phnom Penh. Under the deal, SolarPVExchange will design and construct a 200 kilowatt-peak solar photovoltaic (PV) system across the rooftops of the condominium’s eight blocks of residential units.

The solar PV system will generate enough clean energy at its peak capacity to power Axis Residences’ communal facilities including its huge indoor gym, four swimming pools, multi-purpose rooms, games room and lounge. It will also help the condominium to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by the equivalent of planting 3,222 trees a year.

That amount of energy, for example, can power 14 air conditioning units to cool down Axis Residences’ gym, multi-purpose rooms, children’s playroom and facilities. Alternatively, it can power up to 111 water pumps for the developments’ swimming pools, and supply water into the homes of its residents.

Mr Rob Khoo, SolarPVExchange’s Managing Director, said: “We are pleased to partner Spring CJW in providing solar power for its first residential project in Cambodia. Spring CJW has joined a growing list of companies that are environmentally-friendly and prepared to adopt sustainable ways of doing business. As a developer that targets young and trendy homebuyers and entrepreneurs, its green approach will go down well with its target market.

“By tapping solar energy, Spring CJW will also enable residents of Axis Residences to benefit from reduced utility and maintenance bills.”

Mr Anthony Ong, Director of Spring CJW Development Pte Ltd, said: “Spring CJW is passionate about sustainable developments and we are delighted that Axis Residences has cleared the preliminary assessment and will be the first residential development in Cambodia to attain the internationally renowned and recognised Green Mark Gold Accreditation by Singapore’s Building & Construction Authority.”

Mr Ong added that the Singapore-based developer aims to lead the way for other property developers in Cambodia to embrace sustainable green solutions for their projects.

Axis Residences is the first Cambodian eco-friendly condo development project to receive the ‘Highly Commended Award’ at the inaugural Cambodia Property Award 2016 for the Best Condo Development and the first condominium project in Cambodia to be awarded Green Mark Gold Award by Singapore Building Construction Authority.

The condominium is located along Street Doung Ngeap number III in the upcoming western Phnom Penh district, five minutes away from Phnom Penh International Airport. The US$70 million development project comprises 566 units in eight buildings of 10 floors each and is scheduled for completion by next year.

SolarPVExchange is currently in discussion with various clients in Cambodia, including hospitals, banks and factories to bring sustainable renewable energy solutions into Cambodia and the rest of Southeast Asia.

The region enjoys abundance of sunshine all year round, making the harnessing of solar energy highly viable in this region. Currently, Thailand leads the way for solar power in Southeast Asia with more solar power capacity than the rest of Southeast Asia combined.

Cambodia made its first major investment in solar energy in 2016, with the announcement of a US$9.2 million solar power plant by SolarPVExchange’s sister firm Sunseap in Bavet City, Svay Rieng to provide a quarter of the energy needs of the city and cut the country’s emissions by 5,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.