BMSPA 2021: Sustainability is at its core - IPC Shopping Centre

10 Years and Above Retail (Silver)

IPC Shopping Centre

Located in the suburb of Mutiara Damansara, Petaling Jaya (PJ) in Selangor, IPC is the first of many shopping centres anchored by the IKEA home furnishing store in Malaysia and in the region – set up by global corporation Ikano Group’s IKEA Southeast Asia and Mexico.

According to IPC Shopping Centre (IPC) general manager Karyn Lim, all IKEA and Ikano businesses have to adhere to global safety and security standards as well as audits set forth by the Ikano Group.

“In particular, we have to adhere to the IWAY standard which is a guiding principle based on international conventions and declarations. We also have the yearly SecCheck and IKEA Blue – a safety and security audit that ensures all IKEA and its shopping centre business units adhere to our global standard of mitigating risks and maximising the safety of our shoppers and co-workers while safeguarding the business and brand,” she tells EdgeProp.my.

Managed by Ikano Corp Sdn Bhd, the mall, which opened its doors in Dec 2003, won Silver at EdgeProp Malaysia’s Best Managed & Sustainable Property Awards 2021 in the 10 Years and Above – Retail category.

The mall was rebranded from Ikano Power Centre to IPC Shopping Centre in 2011. Following that, the mall underwent a RM200 million redevelopment in 2017.

“Besides reconfiguring the layout of the mall, we also wanted to live up to the Group’s sustainability business core, so we improved our building and operational structures in accordance to Malaysia’s GBI (Green Building Index) and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building certification requirements with the use of major green apparatus such as solar energy, rain water harvesting plant, and energy and water efficiency system and mechanism,” says Lim.

Following the refurbishment, the mall’s interior now has a Scandinavian feel and a family-friendly concept with facilities such as indoor playgrounds, family rooms and kid-friendly toilets while its retail offerings are focused on home and living, F&B and lifestyle needs.

“We also improved our external driveway and created a direct drop-off point to the supermarket floor at LG1, as well as added two link bridges connecting IPC and IKEA to The Curve shopping mall at Level 1, creating a more seamless connectivity to the surrounding commercial components (in Mutiara Damansara Commercial Centre) as one shopping destination,” Lim notes, adding that the mall attracts some 15 million visitors a year.

Promoting waste reduction

The IPC team is not just fervent about managing the mall well but to create an impactful change in environment conservation especially waste reduction.

IPC’s Recycling and Buy Back Centre (RBBC) began with a six-month trial project in 2009 focused on managing daily general waste through segregation. The response was so overwhelming that the RBBC has now become a go-to place for the PJ community when it comes to recycling their trash and disposing selected hazardous waste (light bulbs, batteries and fluorescent tubes) properly.

“On average, we collect more than 45 tonnes of recyclable waste monthly excluding the food waste that we collect from all our F&B tenants and our centre’s daily general waste,” Lim notes.

In for the long run

Lim highlights that the retail climate in the Klang Valley has become more challenging, hence it is important for IPC to secure a long-term and sustainable business plan.

“For IPC, we will continue with our ‘meeting place’ master plan by improving our tenant mix and retail diagram organically, introducing more community-driven campaigns as well as growing our phygital (physical and digital) strategy,” shares Lim.

“We are here for the long run and we want to continue being a staple for the community as their home away from home. We believe a shopping experience is shaped not only by the variety of retail offerings but also in the smaller details which usually tend to be overlooked. This includes comfort, security, convenience and happiness,” she concludes.

Check out the microsite for Edgeprop’s Best Managed & Sustainable Property Awards 2021 here

This story first appeared in the EdgeProp.my E-weekly on April 9, 2021. You can access back issues here.

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