The keys to successful townships and integrated developments

WHAT makes for a successful township and integrated development? According to one of the top property developers in the country, S P Setia Bhd, the main contributing factor is sustainability.

Sharing the developer’s experience in such developments were S P Setia’s Setia Alam general manager Tan Siow Chung and S P Setia head of sales and marketing Daniel Ong at the two-day All About Homes workshop series held at IKEA Cheras and IKEA Mutiara Damansara last Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Tan spoke on the topic “How to identify a good township” on the first day while Ong’s talk was on “How to identify a good integrated development?” on the second day.

Ong said a good integrated development needs to fulfil four key points — integration, placemaking, accessibility and sustainability.

Explaining the point about integration, he said, “People must be able to park their cars in one spot and get everything done on foot. Hence, there must be connecting bridges and pedestrian paths appropriately included in the master plan.

It is also important that the development be a placemaking project, whereby components within the project add value to each other. “Imagine if you have a beautiful library adjacent to a shopping mall, and the library serves good coffee and provides nice views, will it not attract more people to go to the library compared to a stand-alone library?” he asked.

Accessibility is another key point. “It does not mean that the project has many entrances and exits, or that it is accessible via many highways. Looking at the future, there may be a need for a public transportation hub within the integrated project.”

Last but not least, he believes a good integrated development must be long lasting or sustainable. “The project has to be planned for future uses. For example, a 10-stall hawker centre is good enough to serve the crowd today but is it enough for the crowd 10 or 20 years from now? You need to plan for the future so it can last into the future,” Ong stressed.

The first ever integrated development in Kuala Lumpur, cited Ong, was The Intermark which was formerly known as City Square developed in 1984.“It was a well-planned integrated development with a shopping mall, offices, hotel and residences.

S P Setia’s own integrated developments include the Battersea Power Station in London and KL Eco City near Mid Valley City in Kuala Lumpur.

Meanwhile, Tan also believes that sustainability is key to a liveable township. He believes that developers need to create a green eco-system in a township to promote healthy living and encourage outdoor activities such as having recreational parks and water features where residents can enjoy the outdoors.

Sustainability also means adopting green technology, energy efficiency and renewable energy that help to lower the maintenance cost in the long term. “For instance, the water feature in Setia EcoPark uses a hybrid solar technology which helps to lower the usage of electricity," he cited.

“A township must also be self-sustainable and a self-sustaining development should comprise residential, commercial and educational components. Some townships even include the industrial element,” said Tan.

Besides sustainability, a good township should also feature good accessibility, security and convenience, he added.

“For a township development especially when it is in the outskirts of a city, accessibility becomes the main consideration for homebuyers. S P Setia has invested heavily in infrastructure to improve the accessibility of its township projects, such as building connecting roads to highways,” he shared.

There is also no denying the importance of security aspects in township planning. “Security has become the main priority for township planning. Besides gated and guarded projects, developers have adopted a number of security enhancement technologies for the safety of residents, such as alarm systems, CCTV surveillance, 24-hour security patrol and AgilFence systems which could help detect intrusions,” he added.

When it comes to convenience, Tan said developers need to take care of their residents’ basic needs and look for suitable institutions or business owners to set up at their townships in order to provide suitable amenities.

“Proud to say, for S P Setia, every township must be able to fulfil the needs of 'live, learn, work and play'," he said.

This story first appeared in TheEdgeProperty.com pullout on Sept 30, 2016, which comes with The Edge Financial Daily every Friday. Download TheEdgeProperty.com pullout here for free.