KUALA LUMPUR: S P Setia Bhd’s Setia Eco Gardens project in Johor and Pavilion Kuala Lumpur have emerged winners in the Fiabci Prix d’Excellence Awards 2009 international property awards. Fiabci is the French acronym for the International Real Estate Federation.

S P Setia won in the Master Plan category while Pavilion KL won in the Retail category. Fiabci International announced the winning projects in a press release on May 21.

The awards presentation ceremony was to be held during the 60th Fiabci World Congress in Beijing. However, the entire Congress was called off three days before it was to due to begin on May 19 due to concerns over the spread of the A (H1N1) influenza.

This is S P Setia’s second win as it won in the same category in 2007 for its Setia Eco Park residential development in Shah Alam. The Group has been ranked the nation’s top property developer in The Edge Top Property Developers Awards for the past four years.

S P Setia president and CEO Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin attributed the win to the Group’s continous efforts in striving for excellence. “We are heartened that our efforts over the years to differentiate ourselves as the developer of choice have been rewarded with such a well-respected award in the property industry,” said Liew who is currently in Beijing together with about 100 other delegates who were already in Beijing when the Congress was called off including Lisa Kurrass, the new Fiabci World president.


“Setia Eco Gardens was developed in line with the Eco Concept due to the existing environment and the intention is to make the Eco concept available to both high-end customers (lavish eco villas priced from RM800,000) and the mass market (eco homes priced from RM200,000),” added Liew of the homes in the 948-acre township development.


Among the common features of the Eco homes and villas are energy conservation features such as rainwater harvesting, water recycling and solar panels.
The provision for green zones in the development master plan includes a 18.5-acre Eco park, a 16-acre rainforest, smaller landscaped parks as well as rivers, lakes and canals.


Meanwhile, Joyce Yap, CEO-Retail of Kuala Lumpur Pavilion Sdn Bhd said winning the award in the Retail category could mean that the lifestyle mall has led the country’s retail industry to new levels particularly in the growth of retail brands in Malaysia. It has a total of 450 tenants across 1.3 million sq ft net of retail space and has received about 48 million visitors since opening in 2007.


Residential project Lake Edge Puchong by YTL Land & Development Bhd was runner-up in the Master Plan category.Other runners-up from Malaysia was YTL's condominium project The Maple at Sentul Park which came in second runner-up in the Residential category while the 1 Sentral office building in KL Sentral by Malaysian Resources Corporation Bhd and G Hotel in Penang were first runners-up in the Office and Hotel categories respectively.


Orchard Scotts and Newton Suites from Singapore took the top two spots respectively in the Residential category while St Regis Singapore was the winner in the Hotel category.


Last year, Mulpha International Bhd's Pinggiran Bayou Village Homes which is part of its Leisure Farm Resort development in Johor was tops in the Residential category while four other Malaysian developers were runners-up in various categories. 


This year’s awards saw several first-time winners from China, India and Russia. The two China projects that won were Huaming Model Town in the Rural & Suburban category and the Nanjing Riverbank Family affordable housing project which won a special award called the Beijing Congress Award. Russia’s tallest building the Federation Tower won in the Office category.


The full list of 2009 winners can be viewed at www.fiabciprix.com

SHARE