From left: EdgeProp Singapore CEO Bernard Tong and GuocoLand Group CEO Cheng Hsing Yao (Photo: Samues Isaac Chua / EdgeProp Singapore)
GuocoLand has won its fifth Top Developer Award at the Singapore Excellence Awards (EPEA) 2024, reinforcing its status as a prominent player in real estate development. The industry leader previously received this prestigious award in 2018 and has now claimed it for three consecutive years, from 2021 to 2023. In addition to the Top Developer Award, GuocoLand garnered 13 other accolades, showcasing its impressive portfolio of residential and mixed-use developments.
Lentor Mansion, GuocoLand’s latest residential project in the Lentor Hills estate, won six awards across various categories, including Top Development, Design Excellence and the People’s Choice Award, which was selected by public vote.
Cheng Hsing Yao, GuocoLand’s group CEO, who accepted the Top Developer award, says: “We are very encouraged that the judges and the community have recognised our developments by voting for us in the People’s Choice category.”
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With 40 years as a leading property developer in Singapore, GuocoLand has spent the past decade refining its guiding design principles under Cheng’s leadership. Today, the developer is focused on “delivering ergonomic, well-thought-out spaces through user-centric design,” he says.
“The hallmark of a GuocoLand project is its ability to integrate emerging trends while maintaining a timeless design,” Cheng adds. “When we talk about timeless design, we consider the emotions evoked by the project’s aesthetics, materials and colours. We want our buildings to look relevant five to ten years down the road.”
To illustrate the concept, Cheng highlights two of GuocoLand’s landmark mixed-use developments: Guoco Tower in Tanjong Pagar, completed in 2016 and Guoco Midtown in Bugis, which was completed in phases starting in 2023. He notes that both developments share similar “timeless” design elements, including distinct drop-off points for the retail, residential and office components. Additionally, the office towers in both projects feature marble-clad, double-volume lobbies.
The lobby at Guoco Midtown’s office tower with large format marble slabs (Credit: Samuel Isaac Chua / EdgeProp Singapore)
However, he adds that the two developments differ in terms of their conceptualisation. Guoco Midtown was designed to accommodate a hybrid working model and the evolving workspace requirements of its office tenants. “This is why we built the network hub for Guoco Midtown.”
Guoco Midtown’s Network Hub is a five-story building located near the centre of the project that features a ground-floor lounge and café, a hot-desking area, meeting rooms and fully fitted Grade A office space that Guoco Midtown’s office tenants can rent out on an ad-hoc basis. It connects directly to the mixeduse development’s residential, office and commercial components.
"We designed the Network Hub as the starting point of Guoco Midtown to cater to these two aspects,” says Cheng. This allows Guoco Midtown’s office tenants greater flexibility in terms of office space requirements — needs that GuocoLand saw was unaddressed in Guoco Tower — while maintaining a timeless aesthetic for the property, he adds.
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Another cornerstone of a GuocoLand project is the focus on how users experience the space. The driving force behind this design principle, Cheng says, is envisioning how each end-user will interact with the space, identifying their needs, and then working to fulfil them.
He notes that users include not only residents and office tenants but also visitors, clients and members of the public. Even small details, such as the size of marble slabs, can impact a space’s experience. Similarly, an insufficient number of lifts in the lobby can lead to user impatience, affecting their overall experience of the space.
Cheng is also often deeply involved in the details of most of GuocoLand’s developments: refining floor plans, selecting materials and equipment and choosing colour schemes. By being involved, he ensures that the final product aligns with GuocoLand’s design philosophy and brand identity of delivering highly functional and practical spaces for diverse users.
The recently launched 533-unit Lentor Mansion will integrate the surrounding greenery into its design (Credit: Samuel Isaac Chua / EdgeProp Singapore)
GuocoLand’s user-centric design considerationshave helped it attract blue-chip tenants to Guoco Midtown’s office tower. When it obtained a Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP) at the end of January 2023, the office component of the mixed-use development had an occupancy rate of 80%. Since then, the occupancy rate has increased to 98%.
Guoco Midtown’s office tenants include multinational companies such as Porsche Asia Pacific, German bank Commerzbank AG, Ant Group (the fintech affiliate of Alibaba Group), Chinese internet technology company NetEase and Liechtenstein-based private bank VP Bank.
Beyond office space, GuocoLand considers both the amenities within its premises and those offered by neighbouring businesses. “We want to ensure our tenants and their employees have convenient options for meals, the gym and shopping before they head home,” says Cheng. “By relocating here, our tenants also demonstrate their commitment to their staff’s well-being.”
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Guoco Midtown’s retail component features over 30 dining options. Additional amenities include a sheltered running track, a wellness deck and end-of-trip facilities. Nearby supermarkets include CS Fresh, FairPrice Finest and Meidi-Ya.
“Another key aspect for us is the perception and prestige of our office,” offers Cheng. “For our tenants, it’s important how the office environment reflects their brand, attracts talent and fosters a sense of pride and belonging among their staff. It also conveys a sense of prestige when clients and business associates visit; that’s what we set out to achieve from the start.”
Judges inspecting the site of Meyer Mansion, which received both the Top Development and People’s Choice Awards in the Completed Developments category (Credit: Samuel Isaac Chua / EdgeProp Singapore)
With Guoco Midtown nearing completion, Cheng’s attention has turned to the developer’s upcoming residential project at Upper Thomson Road. In April, the developer secured a 344,700 sq ft government land sales programme (GLS) site in a joint venture with Hong Leong Holdings. The partnership submitted the sole bid of $779.6 million, or $905 psf per plot ratio (ppr) for the site.
The site is expected to yield 940 housing units and include a unique conservation element in the overall GFA. The site along Upper Thomson Road is adjacent to another GLS site and across from the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, Singapore’s largest nature reserve.
“One of the main attractions of the Upper Thompson site was that it is a fully private estate,” says Cheng. “When you look at the Upper Thompson site, there are only two parcels and the forest.”
URA had stipulated a biodiversity condition for the site tender at Upper Thomson Road, requiring the developer to prioritise biodiversity protection and ecological connectivity. This is similar to what GuocoLand successfully implemented at Lentor Hills Estate,
formerly the site of Lentor Forest.
Lentor Mansion, GuocoLand’s latest residential project in the Lentor Hills estate, won six awards across various categories (Credit: Samuel Isaac Chua / EdgeProp Singapore)
“The focus on biodiversity is what attracted us to the Upper Thomson Road site, as we have introduced floral biodiversity in our other projects at Lentor and even in urban settings like Midtown Modern,” says Cheng. “It’s something we are experienced in, so when this site came with a biodiversity requirement, we felt confident we could deliver on it.”
The recently launched 533-unit Lentor Mansion, adjacent to the upcoming Hillock Park, will incorporate the surrounding greenery into its design. The development consists of three eight-story blocks and three 16-story blocks on a 235,374 sq ft site. The project will include a landscape replacement area of 53%, meaning that over half of the site will feature green spaces — 68% of which will be composed of native plant species.
“There is a well-established notion that people are biophilic; they have an innate desire to be close to nature, which isn’t limited to Singaporeans,” says Cheng. “Given that Singapore is such a densely built environment, we want greenery nearby and prefer it to be natural rather than artificial.”
Another appealing feature of the site is its proximity to Springleaf MRT Station on the Thomson-East Coast Line. This line offers convenient access to the Orchard Road retail district, the central business district and the East Coast.
The appeal of this project is the ability to live next to a forest while still having MRT access,” adds Cheng. “Usually, you have to choose one or the other, but this development offers both.”
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