This article first appeared in City & Country, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on November 5, 2018 - November 11, 2018
S P Setia Bhd clinched the top spot in The Edge Malaysia Top Property Developers Awards (TPDA) 2018 for the third consecutive year. It had dropped to third place in 2014, and to fourth in 2015, before bagging the title again in 2016. Prior to 2014, the
developer had been ranked No 1 eight other times. S P Setia president and CEO Datuk Khor Chap Jen said the company is proud to have retained its first place ranking — its 11th overall.
“I would like to attribute this win to the strong and continuous support received from Team Setia. Teamwork is definitely the hallmark of our success. Our commitment to sustainability and innovation has not wavered and we have weathered the current market challenges with the right strategies and by delivering our promises to our property purchasers and stakeholders,” he said.
S P Setia also took the Best in Quantitative Attributes and the Best in Qualitative Attributes sub-awards. It shared the Best in Quantitative Attributes award with UOA Development Bhd, which placed fourth on the Top 10 list.
TPDA anchors The Edge Malaysia Property Excellence Awards (TEPEA), which in recent years has expanded to include other sub-awards such as The Edge Malaysia-PEPS Value Creation Excellence Award, The Edge Malaysia-PAM Green Excellence Award, The Edge Malaysia Affordable Urban Housing Excellence Award, The Edge
Malaysia Outstanding Property CEO Award and The Edge Malaysia Pioneer Development Award.
Twelve developers made the Top 10 list as companies with scores of less than 0.5 point of each other have been ranked equally since 2017.
The others on the list are IJM Land Bhd (No 2), Sime Darby Property Bhd (No 3), UOA Development (No 4), Sunway Bhd — Property division (No 5), Eco World Development Group Bhd (No 6), IOI Properties Group Bhd (No 6), Mah Sing Group Bhd (No 7), UEM Sunrise Bhd (No 7), Gamuda Bhd — Property division (No 8), Tropicana Corp Bhd (No 9) and Eastern & Oriental Bhd (No 10).
The TEPEA awards gala dinner was held on Oct 29 at the Hilton Kuala Lumpur, with more than 400 real estate players and experts coming together to raise a toast to the winners.
“For the Top Property Developers Awards, we have both qualitative and quantitative evaluation,” The Edge Media Group publisher and group CEO Ho Kay Tat said in his opening address.
“The qualitative evaluation is done by a panel of judges who are industry personalities. Companies are judged by their peers, which is probably the most satisfying way to be recognised. To mitigate the risk of biasness, judges abstain from casting their scores for companies where they are conflicted.”
The scores and rankings for the TPDA were audited by Deloitte Malaysia.
Also at the event were guest of honour, Deputy Minister of Housing and Local Government Datuk Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah Raja Ahmad, and The Edge Media Group chairman Datuk Tong Kooi Ong.
In his speech, Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah noted that both the government and the private sector, including developers and financiers, have a collective responsibility to help Malaysians, especially young Malaysians, own a home.
“We must strive to facilitate home ownership, especially among first-time house buyers. The time has passed for us to highlight all the reasons why young Malaysians cannot afford to own a home. We are all by now very familiar with the problems of low incomes, high prices and inadequate bank financing,” he said.
This year, The Edge Malaysia Lifetime Property Achievement Award was presented to Bandar Utama City Corp Sdn Bhd director Tan Sri Teo Chiang Kok in recognition of his contribution in the development of Bandar Utama in Petaling Jaya.
Meanwhile, The Edge Malaysia Outstanding Property CEO Award was given to MKH Bhd managing director Tan Sri Eddy Chen and UEM Sunrise managing director and CEO Anwar Syahrin Abdul Ajib. The award recognises CEOs and professionals whose leadership has taken their companies to extraordinary heights.
There were two recipients of The Edge Malaysia Pioneer Development Award, which recognises significant projects that have not only emerged as pioneers in the market but also contributed positively to the growth of surrounding areas. Sunway Bhd and Ramsay Sime Darby Health Care Sdn Bhd (a 50:50 joint venture between Sime Darby Bhd and Ramsay Health Care Ltd) were honoured with the award for their hospital projects.
The Edge Malaysia-PEPS Value Creation Excellence Award recognises developments that have provided outstanding rewards to their purchasers in terms of capital appreciation. The winner was Horizon Hills Development Sdn Bhd’s Phase 2D3 in Horizon Hills, Johor, with the merit award going to Mah Sing’s Alpine @ M Residence 2 in Rawang, Selangor.
The Edge Malaysia-PAM Green Excellence Award recognises projects that demonstrate sustainable design innovation while contributing positively to the community.
The winner this year was Kualiti Alam Sdn Bhd’s Environmental Preservation and Innovation Centre (EPIC) in Negeri Sembilan, while honorary mention was given to Franky Land Sdn Bhd for Mangala Resort & Spa in Pahang and S P Setia for Setia SPICE in Penang.
The Edge Malaysia Affordable Urban Housing Excellence Award, which recognises affordable housing projects for the urban middle-income group undertaken wholly by Malaysian private developers, was awarded to Savanna Executive Suites @ Southville City in Selangor by Mah Sing.
The Edge Malaysia Property Excellence Awards this year were sponsored by Auto Bavaria and USG Boral, and presented by City & Country, the property pullout of The Edge Malaysia, with support from EdgeProp.my.
Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy.
P/S: The Edge is also available on Apple's AppStore and Androids' Google Play.