Upkeep the 'A' standard

As a new developer and owner of a Grade A office building in Kuala Lumpur city centre, Khor Joo Saik Sdn Bhd (KJS) has had some false starts when it came to managing the property following its completion.

In hindsight, KJS project manager for Menara Binjai David Hong says it is not difficult to build a Grade A commercial office building, but to ensure that it keeps its Grade A standards long after its completion is a whole different kettle of fish.

“We [KJS] are new to property development — what more to building management — but we believe in professionalism, so after the building [Menara Binjai] was completed in August 2012, we looked for a professional property manager and leasing team to manage and bring in tenants.

“We started with two different service providers — one for the building management and one for leasing. Three years thereafter, we consolidated the two and awarded the contract to Knight Frank Malaysia in August 2015,” says Hong.

Located at the junction of Jalan Binjai, Jalan Ampang and Jalan Tun Razak, Menara Binjai is strategically located next to the Ampang Park LRT (Light Rail Transit) Station.

The 35-storey building with a total net lettable area of 314,919 sq ft offers 29 levels of offices; a ground floor as lobby, retail and banking; a mezzanine floor; and four podiums of car parks in addition to another four basement car park levels.

It features a grand lobby, sky garden, triple volume garden terrace every three floors, conference facilities, gym and data centre. Its tenants at the ground floor include a bank and an F&B outlet. There is also a clinic located at Level 5 and a convenience store at basement Level 1.

Menara Binjai is a certified MSC Malaysia Cybercentre-status office building and the first office building in Malaysia accorded the Green Building Index certification and Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority’s Green Mark Gold. A building of such high quality certainly requires good maintenance, and at EdgeProp Malaysia’s Best Managed Property Awards 2018, the project emerged as the Silver winner in the below 10 years non-strata office category.

The task of the property manager is not only in maintaining the building and its facilities, but also in proposing upgrading and improvement projects, says Knight Frank Property Management Sdn Bhd building manager Zaidi Abu Samah.

“One key thing for us is to keep up with technology, such as the recent LV Main Switch Board Automatic Transfer Switch upgrading project. We found the system’s existing secondary mechanical-based interlock presenting reliability concerns, so we have upgraded it to an electrical-based one to better address any potential gaps and to mitigate power supply interruptions during the switch-over from TNB (Tenaga Nasional Bhd) to Genset supply,” cites Zaidi.

As an MSC-status building, it needs to provide an assurance of continued power supply. “The assurance of continued power supply is one of Menara Binjai’s competitive factors in the current slow office market. This feature is attractive to multinational IT companies that support global operations,” he offers.

The project’s current occupancy is 92% while the collection rate from tenants is 96% including the monthly maintenance and service charge of RM1.70 psf.

“One of our tenants is the British High Commission, which means we have to meet their expectations for high security — and the fact that they have remained leasing with us is proof of our security standards,” says Knight Frank Property Management executive director Lee Siow Sung.

Besides the use of CCTV cameras and the strict registration procedure for visitors, contractors and goods deliveries, the parking of motorcycles at the building is also limited to tenants with reserved parking access for security reasons.

The owner and property management team constantly have the comfort and convenience of its tenants in mind. For instance, the owner has constructed a new covered pathway from Menara Binjai to Ampang Park LRT Station.

“Jalan Binjai is closed until 2022 for the mass rapid transit works, so there is traffic congestion in the area during peak hours. KJS, in collaboration with Knight Frank, explored an initiative to create a new rear exit from the building to allow direct access to Jalan Tun Razak as an alternative for tenants to exit the building,” shares Knight Frank Property Management associate director Vignesh Pillai.

Indoor comfort levels are maintained with green features such as double-glazed low-emission glass that provides excellent heat and sound insulation, shielding building occupants from glare while permitting maximum natural light transmission. The building is also a pioneer in the use of energy-efficient Green Chillers.

The landlord has also invested in a fully automated lift destination control system, which Hong says saves 30% of energy and minimises waiting and travel time. Menara Binjai is only the second building to use this lift system in Kuala Lumpur, offers Vignesh.

Moving forward, the team will be starting a rain-water harvesting project by the middle of the year to further its commitment to a greener urban environment.

“KJS is a very responsible developer. David [Hong] sits in our bi-weekly meetings and listen to our feedback and report. Some would say it will be stressful to have a hands-on client, but for our team, we feel blessed. David is very supportive and easy to communicate with, as he really understands the building and shares the same mindset as us — to keep the ‘A’ standard of this Grade A building intact,” Vignesh says.

This story first appeared in EdgeProp.my pullout on May 11, 2018. Download EdgeProp.my pullout here for free.