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

Gamuda Land CEO Ngan Chee Meng was in a jovial mood during our morning Zoom meeting. “Today we can talk via Zoom, so we don’t have to burn more fuel going into the office,” he says.

No stranger to being interviewed for The Edge Malaysia Top Property Developers Awards, Ngan has always been a strong proponent of sustainability — an intrinsic value in Gamuda Land’s DNA. “Our DNA — that is our commitment to the environment, community, customers and employees — has always been the same, and we are making sure that it doesn’t change,” he says.

“We call ourselves a sincere, responsible and original town-maker. For us, it is about enhancing our brand. We have a strong DNA that makes us who we are today, and we endeavour to continue being relevant because of that commitment.”

Since its establishment in 1995, the property development arm of Gamuda Bhd has been on a mission to be the leader in building sustainable, integrated townships. Its ongoing projects include Gamuda Cove and Gamuda Gardens in Selangor and Horizon Hills in Johor, as well as Gamuda City in Hanoi and Celadon City in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Ngan tells City & Country how the company has been focusing on environmental, social and governance (ESG) compliance, post-pandemic design and staff well-being in the last 12 months and its targets and plans going forward.

Ngan Chee Meng: In the last 18 months, to be specific, we have had to wrap our heads around the Covid-19 pandemic. Many of us are aware that a lot of things we do are related to climate change. That’s when we started to realise that to be sustainable, we must relook how we see the business, the future of climate change and the well-being of the people. We have to get it right.

This affirms Gamuda Land’s existing thrusts, focusing on ESG compliance, particularly with the Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change sounding a Code Red on climate change, with global warming of up to 1.5°c by 2040.

While sustainability and good governance have been in our DNA since our inception, Gamuda formalised these principles under the Gamuda Green Plan 2025 (GGP), launched on June 5 this year, as a group-wide framework that charts tangible targets, driven by ESG dimensions, over the next five years.

We also looked at post-pandemic design for homes and spaces through our Planning for the Future think tank initiative. We incorporated high-speed digital infrastructure and connections to nature in our homes, as well as ‘work from home’ and ‘work near home’ features, such as working pods, which are seen in launches such as Illaria in Gamuda Gardens and Enso Woods in Gamuda Cove.

Last but not least, we have also focused on our staff well-being. We established an in-house RT-PCR Laboratory & Test facility in December last year to undertake weekly testing for group staff and frontliners such as our contractors and sub-contractors and tenants, with a capacity of more than 3,400 tests daily. For better mental health, Gamuda Land has partnered with Naluri, a digital therapeutics solution, to enhance resilience and provide avenues of expression. In addition, we have instituted sweeping changes to streamline and simplify our staff benefits, along with Covid-19 allowances for self-tests, vaccinations and more, to help employees cope with the pandemic.

We did quite well in terms of sales. We did better in financial year 2021 ended July 31 (FY2021), with a 30% increase in sales, compared with FY2020. I believe our instinct was correct when we decided to launch the GGP and quickly roll out our post-pandemic design products.

We had a number of launches, mostly landed offerings. This includes Illaria in Gamuda Gardens, which comprises 329 units of 2-storey link homes and 42 units of 3-storey townhouses. We launched this in the fourth quarter of 2020 (4Q2020) and it has been very well received with 90% of the units taken up.

We also launched Phase 1 of Enso Woods in Gamuda Cove in the first half of 2021 (1H2021) and Phase 2 on Nov 25. It has a Japanese-inspired environment with a lot of natural light and space. Phase 1, comprising 203 units, is 90% taken up. The project offers 454 units of 2- and 3-storey garden terraced homes.

As for upcoming launches, we are planning to roll out Phase 1 of Gardens Square in Gamuda Gardens this month. The project comprises 133 units of 2- and 3-storey shop and office lots, for which we have received a very high level of registration.

Next year, we plan to launch Monarc in Gamuda Gardens, Wetlands Estates in Gamuda Cove and Levane Residences in twentyfive.7. The first batch of homes at Monarc will offer 94 bungalows and semidees while Wetlands Estates will offer 66 units of 2- and 3-storey bungalows. Levane Residences will comprise 367 units of 2-storey link homes.

I think things were better this year than last year because we feel safer. There was a lot of uncertainty last year but we can see that a lot of things have settled down. Hence, when the government eased the movement restrictions, sales came back very fast. I expect FY2022 to be even better.

We continue to expand our footprint and broaden our international market reach, especially in our identified growth markets — Australia, Vietnam, Singapore and the UK.

The 13.8-acre parcel in Binh Duong New City is a small step in expanding our presence in Vietnam, where we have been for the past 15 years. For this project, we are planning link houses and shops, which are in short supply in Vietnam.

Our existing Vietnam projects, Celadon City in Ho Chi Minh City and Gamuda City in Hanoi, have seen us through the challenging economic outlook of the Malaysian market. We will continue our strong trajectory in Vietnam with the 306-acre Gamuda City Central in Hanoi. Gamuda Land is quite a well-received name in Vietnam today.

In Australia, we continue to broaden our development plans in Melbourne. We are currently working on our second project there after the successful debut of our 661 Chapel St residential tower.

In Singapore, we are working on our second development, OLÁ, following the success of our first project — GEM Residences — a Green Mark-certified condo that was fully sold in 2020. OLÁ, comprising 548 executive condos at Anchorvale Crescent, has achieved 93% in sales since its launch in March last year. We are looking for further projects there.

We are also jointly developing two boutique developments in London, UK.

Our overseas projects have been fantastic, so I’m not complaining. Even during the pandemic, our overseas projects accounted for two-thirds of Gamuda Land’s property sales in FY2021.

The Covid-19 pandemic and its impact have given us the opportunity to reset our five-year business plan. This includes having a compound annual growth rate of at least 20% in terms of sales, earnings and regional growth. Having learnt from our last five-year plan, diversification is important.

Gamuda Land will continue to grow through high-value, low-risk overseas acquisitions in Vietnam, the UK and Australia.

Our DNA is still the same, so in terms of the Gamuda Land brand, we will continue to walk the talk. In particular, we will focus on our commitment to our communities, our customers and our staff.

Through the GGP, we will focus on Gamuda’s road map to a green economy with specific steps to reduce direct and indirect corporate greenhouse gas emissions by 30% in 2025, and by 45% in 2030, compared with business as usual in response to climate change.

Our target is also to plant #OneMillionTrees by 2023 through advanced tree planting and the Miyawaki planting technique [planting two to four trees per sq m].

Our key projects will emphasise placemaking for the community, guided by our development principle ‘when we get the places right, the town works’. This includes positioning the Quayside District as the heartbeat of Kota Kemuning from 2025 onwards, with people-centric, biophilic design; Gamuda Gardens’ Xploria to bring together entertainment and lifestyle draws like the Skyline Luge and Big Bucket Splash; and Gamuda Cove’s Heart of Cove to feature Asia’s largest rainforest-themed water park with 28 slides and rides by 4Q2022, and the Forest Park and Wetlands Arboretum to reinforce the township as a nature sanctuary. Supported by the Discovery Park and the Paya Indah Discovery Wetlands, Gamuda Cove is well positioned to escalate the growth and vibrance of the Klang Valley’s southern corridor.

We also differentiate ourselves with mindful design and planning, such as putting work, play, shopping and more within easy reach, thereby reducing transport emissions; implementing Green Building Index-rated projects to cut down on operational emissions; and supporting transitions to low-carbon-city frameworks through the implementation of low-carbon strategies across our portfolio.

Sustainability is crucial because it is no longer an option but a necessity, not just for developers but also for all organisations and enterprises.

Our sustainability targets are laid out in the GGP under four pillars — sustainable planning and design for construction; our community and our business; environmental and biodiversity conservation; and enhancing sustainability via digitalisation.

Under Pillar 1, Gamuda Land has a specific target for a 40% reduction in CO-equivalent emissions across its townships and developments, compared with business as usual, by 2030 via a 35% reduction in urban planning emissions, lowering transport emissions by 10% and energy use by 40%, and reducing water demand by 65% and land fill waste by 50%.

These are realised in Gamuda Land’s ESG Implementation Plan, which addresses specific dimensions of emissions.

With the widespread vaccination and reopening of economic activities and international borders, we have reason to be optimistic about FY2022. 

We anticipate pent-up demand to drive property sales for market-driven products moving forward, and more investor activity due to the new Real Property Gains Tax guidelines.

Going forward, we anticipate more focus on climate-responsive design and development, decarbonisation in the industry driven by global transitions to greener economies, as well as a national focus on ESG compliance in Budget 2022.

We also foresee that work-from-home features will be in demand as more organisations and employers explore hybrid working models.

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