Sunway surprises all

Sunway surprises all; E&O and IOI Properties make a comeback

KUALA LUMPUR: Star of the night Sunway Bhd took the No 1 spot in the Top Property Developers Award (TPDA), a first for the developer. Sime Darby Property Bhd came in second, one rank up from the previous year while last year’s winner S P Setia Bhd came in third place. The award ceremony was held at the Hilton KL last night.

The TPDA is the anchor award of The Edge Malaysia Property Excellence Awards. The award includes other several categories such as The Edge-PEPS Value Creation Excellence Award, The Edge-PAM Green Excellence Award, The Edge Outstanding Property Personality Award, The Edge Notable Achievement Award, and The Edge Malaysia Outstanding Property Project Award.  

New this year is The Edge Malaysia Affordable Urban Housing Excellence Award.

Sunway also bagged the Best in Qualitative Attributes Award 2014 and The Edge-PAM Green Excellence Award 2014 for its Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat in Sunway City Ipoh, while its Sunway Rymba Hills in Kota Damansara earned an honorary mention in the same category.

The highly-respected Datuk Tan Chin Nam was the proud recipient of The Edge Malaysia Outstanding Property Personality Award this year. Tan is the founder of Tan &Tan Developments Bhd and is considered a pioneer in the local property industry.

Making a comeback to the top 10 of the TPDA this year were veteran players Eastern & Oriental Bhd (E&O) and IOI Properties Group Bhd. Known for its luxury properties, E&O was last ranked in the top 10 list in 2009. IOI Properties was delisted in 2009 and its last appearance in the top 10 was in 2010. It was relisted early this year with a revenue of RM 1.42 billion for financial year 2014 ended June 30.

Debuting in the top 10 this year was Tropicana Corp Bhd, which saw record sales of RM2.1 billion for its last financial year ended Dec 31, 2013.

Other property developers that made it into this year’s TPDA Top 10 list were UEM Sunrise Bhd (No 4), Gamuda Bhd — Property Division (No 5), Tropicana Corp Bhd (No 6), IGB Corp Bhd (No 7), Eastern & Oriental (No 8), Mah Sing Group Bhd (No 9) and IOI Properties (No 10).

The night saw two recipients for The Edge Malaysia Notable Achievement Award 2014, namely Eco World Development Group Bhd and Tropicana, while YTL Land Development Bhd won The Edge Malaysia Outstanding Property Project Award 2014 for its Sentul East and Sentul West development.

The Edge Malaysia Outstanding Property Project Award recognises completed projects that have made an impact through their design and concept, while The Edge Malaysia Notable Achievement Award recognises companies with recent significant achievements that have raised their profile as a leading property developer.

IJM Land Bhd’s The Arc at Bandar Rimbayu earned an honorary mention for The Edge-PAM Green Excellence Award 2014.

The Edge-PAM Green Excellence Award was founded in partnership with the Malaysian Institute of Architects (PAM) to recognise projects that demonstrate sustainable design innovation while contributing positively to the community.

The Edge-PEPS Value Creation Excellence Award 2014 went to UEM Sunrise and Gamuda‘s Phase 1B9 of the Golf East in Horizon Hills in the residential category and to Sunsuria Development Sdn Bhd’s The Core in Kota Damansara in the non-residential category.

Earning the merit award in the residential category for the same award were Gamuda Land’s Ambang Botanic’s Caspia and Nouvo houses in Klang and UEM Sunrise’s Tranquility Park at East Ledang in Nusajaya, Johor.

The Edge-PEPS Value Creation Excellence Award is jointly inaugurated by The Edge and the Association of Valuers, Property Managers, Estate Agents and Property Consultants in the Private Sector (PEPS). The award recognises developments that have provided outstanding rewards to their purchasers in terms of capital appreciation.

MKH Bhd was a first-time winner, taking home The Edge Malaysia Affordable Urban Housing Excellence Award 2014 for Phase 2A of Pelangi Semenyih 2 in Semenyih. The award is given to outstanding affordable housing projects for the urban middle-income group undertaken wholly by Malaysian private developers.

The Edge Media group publisher and group chief executive officer Ho Kay Tat said the Excellence in Affordable Urban Housing category was added in support of the government’s move to get private developers to carry out more affordable housing development.

(From left) The Edge Communications Sdn Bhd managing director Au Foong Yee, Maybank head of community financial services Malaysia Hamirullah Boorhan, Abdul Rahman, Sunway Bhd joint managing director for property development division Sarena Cheah and Ho. Photo by Shahrin Yahya

“The property industry is a critical component of the economy as an employer, a consumer of goods and services and as a supplier of homes and places for us to do business,” said Ho, adding that a healthy and robust industry is in everyone’s interests.

“The issues facing the sector today are complex but with the collective inputs and cooperation of the key players in the industry and the regulators most of whom are here, I am sure we can achieve what needs to be done.”

Also present was Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, who said: “I know that building affordable homes is no walk in the park. I believe if developers are more stringent in controlling costs, more innovative in their approach and remain ever vigilant for new building technologies, developers would still be able to turn a sizeable profit.”

The minister added that that The Edge-PAM Green Excellence Award is close to his heart as it helps to address the issue of creating environmental friendly and sustainable homes.

“As at November 2013 Malaysia had achieved 75 million square feet of certified green buildings. This reflects the public and private sectors’ awareness of the need to move towards green and sustainable buildings,” said Abdul Rahman.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on October 14, 2014.