Gamuda Land cements its legacy as 'master -builder' of value sustainable developments.

Signature homes of Gamuda Gardens with striking façade.

By Lee Yan Li

AT the heart of value creation is a well-planned development that sits on the foundation of a sustainable environment as well as the right hierarchy of facilities and amenities.

For over two decades, Gamuda Land has based its success on its unyielding commitment to deliver strategically located developments with strong master plan and well-crafted environments to ensure sustainable value is being enjoyed by customers in the form of enhanced quality of life and investment growth. For this, Gamuda Land has netted the Value Creation awards for the last five consecutive years.

Established in 1995, Gamuda Land is the property development arm of Gamuda Bhd, which has demonstrated itself as one of Asia’s premier companies with its 40 years of success.

Gamuda Bhd recently won The Builder of the Year Award at the Malaysian Construction Industry Excellence Award (MCIEA) 2016. The award by the Construction Industry Development Board honours overall excellence in company performance and project implementation. It is a testament to Gamuda Bhd’s diligence in embracing superior quality, workmanship and innovation in all its projects, from building homes and communities to enabling easier connectivity via Gamuda's involvement in the country’s first mass rapid transit system and highway projects.

Gamuda Bhd's emphasis on product differentiation and excellence, value creation and sustainability are reflected in the way Gamuda Land works, which are exemplified in sustainable developments such as Kota Kemuning, Bandar Botanic and Horizon Hills.

Gamuda Land’s story started with the celebrated development of Kota Kemuning in Shah Alam, a sustainable master plan that captured the mood of the future.

The vision that launched thousands of homes
Back when Gamuda acquired the 1,800 acres of palm oil estate in Shah Alam in 1995, the future Kota Kemuning was in the middle of nowhere. The location was transformed by the construction of Shah Alam Expressway (Kesas highway) by Gamuda in 1996 and has since become one of the major highways with high traffic volume.

Gamuda Land managing director Chow Chee Wah said, “We always start with a strong master plan to ensure long-term sustainable growth. There was no gated community for landed property in the area but we saw the possibility and decided to create the suitable infrastructure for future implementation of more gated-and-guarded precincts.

“Now, if you visit some of the older phases in Kota Kemuning, they have all become gated communities done by the residents as the infrastructure, landscapes and road hierarchies had been pre-designed for them,” he said, adding that the sustainable features allow the development to grow with the community without moving to another area. Natural landscape, such as the central lake and parks, are weaved into residential enclaves to ensure residents can get out of their homes and easily spend time outdoors.

The integrated township became the muse for Gamuda Land’s subsequent township developments.

a self-sustaining township with an average 21% capital appreciation year-on-year.

Multi-award winning integrated development
Bandar Botanic, the self-sustaining township in Klang, is a parkland-waterfront concept spanning over 1,247 acres of freehold land. The low-density development which began in 2001 stayed true to Gamuda’s practice of incorporating maximum “greenscapes”.

The 80-acre Botanic West was carefully designed to create a distinct green identity with its Central Lake and Park as the community’s main recreational hub. Meanwhile, the 100-acre Botanic East offers resort-styled ambience with its thematic parks and gardens.

“We preserve the natural topography of the land, work with the natural resources and incorporate well-planned features like lakes and ponds to serve recreational, aesthetical and functional purposes,” said Chow.

Bandar Botanic, with its strategic location in Klang, easy access from Kesas highway and Pulau Indah Expressway, good master planning and quality homes, as well as comprehensive amenities and lifestyle facilities, has been winning the value creation award for four consecutive years.

The future LRT 3 and the expansion of the regional wholesale centre are expected to contribute to Bandar Botanic’s development.

Horizon Hills: A low-density integrated residential township in Iskandar Puteri that spans across 1,200 acres of land.

Glimpsing green horizons
Horizon Hills is another low-density integrated residential township in Iskandar Puteri that spans across 1,200 acres of land. The environment has won the hearts of not just locals, but also Singaporeans and other foreign investors. The township is set in a resort-style environment and offers generous open spaces for recreation such as gardens, parks, lakes and a 30-km cycling path.

Horizon Hills’ master plan maintained the natural undulating terrain of the land and transformed the lowlands into the golf course of international standards and a club house. Only 30% of the terrain was reshaped with the rest retaining its natural form. The award-winning international championship 18-hole golf course was designed by Ross Watson.

A hierarchy of roads, cluster neighbourhoods and public amenities are laid out to maximise safety, including features such as a three-tier security system with CCTV surveillance on perimeter fencing, entry guardhouse at each precinct, 24-hour security patrols and panic buttons in every home.

Gamuda Land continues to create value
Keeping its eyes on the future, Gamuda Land created sustainable communities and wholesome beautiful living environments for the buyers and investors and set the standards for all lifestyle integrated developments, which became the benchmark in the industry.

The price of Kota Kemuning homes has increased 237% from RM132,000 in 2010 to RM445,000 in 2015. In the same period, Bandar Botanic’s link houses have increased 110% from RM556,000 to RM1.17mil. Both amounted to an average annual yield of 21% to 47%.

For its consistant performance in sustainable value creation, Gamuda Land has won multiple awards for various projects. Bandar Botanic has been winning the value creation award for four consecutive years from 2013 to 2016 whilst Kota Kemuning was also given the same award for 2012 and 2013.
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New upcoming townships
With decades of experience in designing sustainable award-winning townships, Gamuda Land raises the bar to achieve greater heights in its upcoming projects such as Gamuda Gardens, Kundang Estates and twentyFive.7, which are located at the northern and southern ends of Greater Kuala Lumpur. Each project has its own distinctive identity, which stays true to Gamuda Land’s vision.

Lush natural terrains of Gamuda Gardens
In the northern part of the Klang Valley, the 810-acre Gamuda Gardens and 89-acre Kundang Estates will be new neighbours to mature towns like Sungai Buloh and provide excellent connectivity via Latar Expressway, the North-South Highway and Guthrie Corridor Expressway.

The main appeal of the location lies in its proximity to Sungai Buloh Integrated Transportation Hub, the future focal point of northern Kuala Lumpur, which is a stop away from Kuang KTM station. Utilising the Park&Ride facility, residents will be easily connected to all parts of the Klang Valley. The MRT station (Line 1) is scheduled to be completed by next month.

Launching in the first quarter of 2017, one of Gamuda Gardens’s biggest wonders is its preservation of the natural undulating terrain. The impressively designed lush parks boast 50 acres of green with five cascading lakes, a majestic waterfall and nature-rich bike trails. With more than 15,000 trees in the entire development, 75% of the streets will be shaded with trees. Residents will be able to look out to great vistas of the vast parklands through amazing key lookout points.

From day one, the planning was laid out to ensure the natural beauty of the landscape is preserved and enhanced.

“We plan and design every aspect of the development, including infrastructure, road systems, current and future precincts, the right hierarchy of community spaces and amenities to ensure long-term viability and growth to enhance the quality of life for generations to come,” said Chow

The comprehensive master planning ensures that lifestyle conveniences are delicately merged with the beautifully crafted environment. At the heart of the development is the vibrant waterfront village filled with cafés, restaurants, grocers and boutiques to meet the residents’ lifestyle needs. Urbanites live in chic and modern homes with striking façade surrounded by sweeping hills, indigenous trees, natural lakes and the waterfalls.

The planning of the neighbourhood is based on crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED), in which the orientation of homes maximise views of the public realm to maintain “eyes on the street”. This eco-gem is complemented with modern facilities and infrastructure to support the needs of the next generation.

Kundang Estates: A home of countryside splendour
Just five km from Gamuda Gardens, Kundang Estates is designed to offer the generations of locals a chance to stay close to their roots while embracing the modern yet tranquil lifestyle.

The relatively small acreage of the development does not hamper the vision for a holistic approach to maximise the possibility of Kundang Estates. The low density boutique residential estate with 573 double-storey terrace houses are decorated with four interconnected parks, namely Lakeside Gardens, Community Farm, Esplanade and Adventure Parks, bringing an abundance of activities that cater for multigenerational residents.

“We don’t just design houses – we design vibrant and quality communities. No matter how basic or small a house may be, we always inject lifestyle features – the small luxuries – into it,” said Chow.

North to South: twentyFive.7 embraces Avant-Garde Life
From northern Klang Valley to the south, Gamuda Land makes a turn to embrace the youthful, avant-garde lifestyle of the millennial.

Envisioned as the vibrant pulse of Kota Kemuning with its waterfront lifestyle hub and designer residences, twentyFive.7 enjoys the same accessibility while presenting a whole new and exciting ambiance to the young and hip.

The comprehensive master planning means twentyFive.7 has been designed to cater to the modern way of life for Millennial-minded homebuyers, as well as young, creative start-ups with features of lifestyle-focused spaces, a plug-and-play environment and new-to-market designs.

“New townships should embody integration, inclusivity and diversity. They must cater to not just what we want today, but what the future needs tomorrow,” said Chow.

The 257-acre integrated township is one of the first developments to offer landed dual-key features. The urban chic designs also resulted in multi-façade link houses that are customised with different orientation and frontage to present different perspective.

At the waterfront hub, new-concept retails and shops such as artisan cafés and specialty restaurants will be augmenting the vibrant, pulsating life of the urban neighbourhood. Furniture of Avant-Grade design decorates the streetscape, mirroring the chic and offbeat blend of modern youth.

Engineering a future of value enhancement

For more information, visit
www.gamudaland.com.my

Through thick and thin, Gamuda Land plays the long game with its visionary projects.

The comprehensive master planning of Gamuda Land’s projects fuses natural geographic advantages with exhaustive infrastructure and amenities, making it a perfect living environment that continues to evolve and define the spirit of modern living.

“For every township we develop, we must be able to create a distinction and an enhanced concept compared with previous projects. We must be able to craft something that can sustain those expectations as we are designing for the future, not for yesterday or today.

“Moving forward, we will continue to raise the bar in building developments with emphasis on strategic locations, fortified by comprehensive master planning and beautifully crafted environments, to ensure that sustainable value is created for our customer,” said Chow.

The article is first published in StarProperty.my pullout on Nov 2. Download StarProperty.my e-Mag(bit.ly/StarProperty_Emag) to read more.