GuocoLand (China) Ltd (GLC), the real estate arm of Malaysia’s Hong Leong Group, plans to go bigger into integrated development in China from its early years of single building projects when it first entered the country.
Violet Lee, managing director of GLC, said that after Guoson Centre, the flagship project of GLC, won the Best International Mixed-Use Development award last week, she was confident that integrated development was the way to go for the firm.
Winning the award at the International Property Awards had given her more confidence to continue with bigger integrated development projects, said Ms. Lee.
“Over the years, we have transformed from single building projects to mega integrated projects of 100,000 square metres, 600,000 square metres,” she said.
Now, the firm “will do bigger”, she said after the award ceremony. “The next project in Beijing is going to be 1.4 million square metres and in Tianjin 1.2 million square metres, even bigger, double the size I am doing now,” said Ms. Lee.
GLC will focus on integrated developments in the coming years, she said.
The company’s developments are in prime locations in Tianjin, Nanjing, Shanghai and Beijing.
Established in 1994, GLC now has a land bank of about 2.5 million sq m worth more than US$3.5 billion in Tianjin, Nanjing, Shanghai and Beijing, said Ms. Lee. “We are not intending to move out of these four cities. They will always be within these four cities,” she added.
Guoson Centre is a sustainable and fully integrated development brand in Shanghai and Beijing. It comprises the large-scale cosmopolitan Guoson Mall, Grade A office towers, five-star British-styled Guoman Hotels, high-end residences, as well as expansive Singapore-inspired ‘Garden City’ landscaping.