This article first appeared in City & Country, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on December 20, 2021 - December 26, 2021

It is not every day that an opportunity comes along to create a desirable destination. For Eco World International Bhd, it came in the form of Embassy Gardens Phase 2. Part of a three-parcel deal with Ballymore Group, the regeneration project has taken flight and become a popular port of call for Londoners and the like. Thus, it is no surprise that Embassy Gardens Phase 2 is one of the winners of this year’s The Edge Malaysia Outstanding Overseas Project Award.

Looking back, Eco World International president and CEO Datuk Teow Leong Seng recalls how much the area has changed. “It was an entirely new precinct in the heart of London. Yet, it was somewhat inaccessible because it did not have a train line. But we knew that the Northern Line was going in, which is now open, so you can travel from Battersea Power Station and stop at Nine Elms station to reach Embassy Gardens, and you can be at the West End in about 15 minutes. It is so accessible today.”

The whole Embassy Gardens development covers 15 acres — 5.4 acres are taken up by Phase 2, which has a gross development value of £933 million (RM5 billion) and offers 747 private and 163 affordable units. Selling prices ranged from £602,500 to £4.5 million, and the units were completed and handed over from 2018.

The completed Phase 1 was developed by Ballymore Group, which is also developing Phase 3. When fully completed, Embassy Gardens will provide 1,500 new homes, 432,278 sq ft of office space across two buildings and 130,000 sq ft of retail space for cafés, bars and restaurants.

One of the standout buildings in the development is the US Embassy, around which Embassy Gardens lies. Teow believes that the embassy has helped create interest in the area.

“It was a big coup bringing the US Embassy into Embassy Gardens because it has given a lot of credibility and added a lot of prestige to the place, especially when they made the decision to move from where they were, which was right in the heart of town. And they spent US$1 billion (RM4 billion) to build this embassy,” he says.

As a result, there are many embassy staff who bring footfall to the area, and this has produced a neighbourhood feel, he points out. To develop the community further, the group reached out to F&B operators to set up shop there. Some of the current tenants are Darby’s Restaurant, The Alchemist, Linnaean, District Coffee, Oxeye and Homeboy Bar. There is also a Waitrose supermarket.

Another highlight is a linear park that links Vauxhall and Battersea Power Station, with Embassy Gardens in the middle.

“You can walk along this linear park away from traffic. It is very pleasant, lined with trees and landscaped,” says Teow, adding that it is a 15-minute walk from Vauxhall to Embassy Gardens and then a 10-minute walk from there to Battersea Power Station.

He also recalls how culture and music were introduced to the area. “We have this collaboration with World Heart Beat Music Academy. They are a bunch of young people making wonderful music.

“We are very proud of the development because it started off being very modest. But today, it is one of Central London’s liveliest neighbourhoods because of these curated elements.”

One of the elements that has struck a chord with people is the transparent Sky Pool. “The Sky Pool was born out of a challenge because we wanted something different. There was no way we could have put a swimming pool on any other building because it is a tight site and very small. So, how do we put in a pool? We began to think, what if we stretched it between two buildings? And how could we make it spectacular? It could not just be a reinforced concrete structure. So, it became something see-through. This was something no one had done before,” says Teow.

“We brought in the architects and engineers. Then, we got a design — an acrylic, fully transparent pool, the first of its kind in the world. We went scouting around the world to find someone who could build a pool like this. We ended up with a firm based in Grand Junction, Colorado, called Reynold Polymer Technology.

“Because of the nature of what we wanted to do — having a pool that is totally transparent, crystal clear — it could not be assembled in London; it did not have the required facilities. It had to be cast in a single piece.

“So, the pool was built in Colorado in one piece and shipped over on the Atlantic Ocean. It arrived in London, barged up the Thames and onto the site.”

The sides of the pool are 200mm thick while the bottom is 300mm thick and it has a height of 3.2m. It weighs 50 tonnes and spans 15m between the two buildings, with steps and filtration systems on either side.

To provide another differential factor for owners and investors of Phase 2, Madrid-based interior designer Luis Bustamante was hired for the interior design work.

Teow reveals that the price point of Embassy Gardens Phase 2 was the highest compared with the other two projects Eco World International was involved in, namely London City Island and Wardian London. However, this did not seem to have deterred buyers, and when the northern line was opened, it only made the area more appealing.

As a result, the clientele has been very diverse and international, with Malaysians among them. “Kudos to my marketing team that has kept all the purchasers engaged every step of the journey. We keep in close contact with all our buyers. So, their experience of buying from us from the beginning to the end is smooth and hassle-free,” he says, adding that at last count, the area was populated with 53 nationalities.

“The majority of the buyers were owner-occupiers from the UK, and this speaks to the quality of the product that we have provided. We wanted to create something that would appeal to the local market as well as international investors,” he continues, adding that most of the buyers were between the ages of 35 and 50 and worked in finance, media and technology in Central London.

Now that Phase 2 is completed, Teow is happy that what was initially planned has met expectations, despite the pandemic.

“Covid-19 has been tough on London and everywhere, but Embassy Gardens has sold the most in the entire Nine Elms area throughout the pandemic, and it has sold the most in our own portfolio — this has been our bestseller,” he says.

“I think it speaks volumes about placemaking. I think it is a very fair price; it is not cheap but it is a fair price for Central London. So, we are glad that purchasers see the value.”

Teow highlights that the project had offered more space for less money in Central London and the location also played a part in building demand for the units.

Moreover, creating a place that people want does not happen overnight. “You need to be very patient when you want to develop something like a truly great international destination,” he remarks.

“Apple [Inc] is going to move into Battersea Power Station next year, and it will change the character of the whole place. Also, Battersea Power Station gives us what Embassy Gardens does not have — a big, top-notch shopping mall, all the F&B outlets and hundreds of outlets within a 5-to-10-minute walk. So, this completes what the neighbourhood has to offer.”

He reiterates, “It is important to create a place through placemaking. It is not just buildings; you must be linked to the community and environment, so that people have a sense of history, a sense of the past. When putting in place facilities for everybody, we need to know who they are and what they want.”

Due to the pandemic, Teow has realised the need to create spaces in which people want to stay for longer periods of time, particularly in the home.

“Being developers, we need to make sure that our projects allow people to spend as much time as possible at home — something we have learnt from the pandemic, which I do not think is going away anytime soon,” he says.

“So, we need to make sure all our developments cater for living, working, playing, eating, exercising, whatever. You do not have to go very far, you have everything at your doorstep.”

Eco World International’s foray into the UK property market has obviously borne fruit. Despite the pandemic, the group has continued to grow and make headway in one of the world’s most competitive markets.

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