By Gunaprasath Bupalan – Emjay Communications / Property360Digest / MalaysiaGlobalBusinessForum / ihaus.com.my
SELANGOR CYBER VALLEY, 4 March 2019 – For the first time ever, Yang Amat Berhormat Tuan Amirudin Shari, Dato’ Menteri Besar Selangor officiated a digital Industrialised Building System (IBS) project under the Rumah Selangorku initiative at the Idaman Residensi apartment at Seksyen 6, Selangor Cyber Valley on 2 March.
At the event, Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Selangor (PKNS) Corporate Communications Manager Ishak Bin Hashim said that their commitment to develop Idaman Residensi was in line with the Ministry of Housing and Local Government’s goal to build one million affordable homes over the course of the coming 10 years.
PKNS Property, a subsidiary of PKNS seems to be confident to respond to the above said Government’s agenda as Idaman Residensi at Seksyen 6 as this is a project built by Gamuda Industrial Building System Sdn Bhd (Gamuda IBS) – the only company that owns Malaysia’s first Digital IBS factory. The inclusion of Digital IBS here would assure purchasers receive their homes on time if not earlier and in good quality.
Unlike conventional construction, IBS offers a technology-intensive construction technique where components are manufactured in a controlled environment off-site, transported to site and assembled Lego-like. This is one of the reasons why Gamuda IBS will complete Idaman Residensi also 12 months ahead of schedule. The cost savings from the construction period allowed Gamuda IBS to be the most competitive tender which was also technically superior.
“As Gamuda IBS was awarded to construct the Idaman Residensi project through a competitive open tender, the scope of work wasn’t like other tenders. The winning company needed to include bullet financing payment, stringent quality and on-time delivery into the scope of work. I am very proud to say that we are executing all given tasks, thanks to the Digital IBS system where we leverage on today’s digital design tools and robotic construction as well as superior quality finish to complete the project earlier”, said Gamuda IBS Executive Director, Dato’ Hj Abdul Sahak Bin Safi.
Upon being awarded the Idaman Residensi project in Seksyen 6, Selangor Cyber Valley, Gamuda IBS’s responsibilities cover preliminaries works, piling works, building works, ancillary buildings, mechanical & electrical works, infrastructure works and landscape works. Construction of Idaman Residensi is set to complete by end- 2020 and handover keys by 2021 (12 months ahead of the targeted date).
Dato’ Sahak also elaborated that the Digital IBS system offers better consistent quality and faster building completion with much cost savings. Administered by the country’s Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), this project has also scored high in the Quality Assessment System for Building Construction Works or better known as QLASSIC. For the Idaman Residensi project, Gamuda IBS will achieve QLASSIC of 75 points, surpassing the industry achievement for affordable homes of 65 points.
“Furthermore, Gamuda IBS adopts a fully automated precast production system where we save 70% of the labour needs. Hence, we are less reliant on foreign labour. The system is also safer and much more efficient, addressing the concerns once brought forward by the Government and in sync with the Governments aspiration of building 100,000 units of affordable houses per year”, he added.
As most projects of today are constructed using traditional methods, it is difficult for the developer to keep prices at a lower bracket. This is mainly due to the rise in construction, material and labour cost, where when accumulated, takes a chunk of the development budget.
Idaman Residensi marks Gamuda IBS’s first external Rumah Selangorku development that has undertaken a complete IBS initiative following the success of Gamuda’s own Gapura Bayu RSKU Apartment which was completed in August 2018.
Gapura Bayu at Jade Hills Kajang was fully built using digital Industrialised Building System (IBS) — the first RSKU of its kind in Malaysia. Thanks to the effective Digital IBS integration, these apartments were fully constructed more than 12 months ahead of schedule and sold at an affordable RM42,000 to RM250,000.
Idaman Residensi on the other hand, consist of 864 sizable 1,000sq ft units tucked away amidst 14.413 acres of prime land in Cyber Valley Selangor. With one 14-storey block and another 15-storey, aside from the residential units, this development consists of a 4- storey parking bay, four OKU units, motorcycle parking, three convenience shops, a kindergarten, a prayer room, a multi-purpose hall and management office. Units here are being sold by PKNS at only RM220psf, which equated to a genuinely affordable RM220,000.
According to Ashak, PKNS is confident that the construction of the affordable housing (Idaman Residensi), would realise a better life for people of this state.
Gamuda IBS recently also announced in a statement that the company is able to easily build a wide range of products, be it affordable homes, luxurious landed homes, high-rise buildings and even public facilities like schools and hospitals. Every component is produced at its controlled factory environment and fully tested, meaning quality is assured through this safer and more sustainable construction method with minimal wastage.
Would this be the answer we have all been waiting for? Would this finally close the two-decade long unanswered debate on affordable homes being a problem to construct and develop? We feel Gamuda IBS has hit the nail on the head with Digital IBS and urge all developers to consider this rather than traditional construction for the betterment of their own cost, buyers as well as the economy at large.
For more information regarding Gamuda IBS and more understanding about Digital IBS, please visit https://gamuda.com.my/our-expertise/engineering-construction/gamuda-ibs/
