Location, location, location - this oft-spoken mantra has always been popular in the real estate fraternity, and has largely gone unchallenged for a long time.

Undoubtedly, location plays a significant role in determining a property’s value. Yet there is much more than meets the eye. Could this adage be an oversimplification, skewing the importance of location?

Besides location, a property’s concept and its management are two other key factors to its success according to Cheng Hsing Yao, the Singapore Country Head and Group Managing Director of GuocoLand, in an exclusive interview with PropertyGuru.

Concept can make or break a development

Building a property at a choice location without a strong concept, even within a traditional prime district, can limit the potential of both the development and the location, says Cheng who joined GuocoLand in 2012 after 15 years of public service at the Urban Redevelopment Authority and Centre of Liveable Cities.

That explains why GuocoLand’s philosophy is to go for sites which it believes have great potential and where a strong product which will transform the district where they are situated can be created. This was also what led Cheng to GuocoLand after moving from public service to the private sector, as he found the developer to be “forward-looking and bold”.

Take GuocoLand’s flagship Guoco Tower for example. A first mover in the area, the 290-metre skyscraper and Singapore’s tallest building is an integrated mixed-use project built by a developer who was not as well known for its commercial assets then as much as it was for its residential developments. In late 2015 and 2016 when the project was being marketed, the office sector was in the doldrums. Many companies, including financial institutions, were contracting, as Cheng recalls.

At that time, the supply of office space was around four times the market absorption rate. Out- performing all expectations, Guoco Tower reached 70 per cent occupancy when it opened in 2016 and attained full occupancy by 2017. Today, its tenants comprise a diversified roster of multinational companies, including financial, tech, media and consumer companies, many choosing to set up their regional headquarters in Guoco Tower. New benchmarks for rental rates in the Central Business District (CBD) have also been set.

Dubbed a “Vertical City” by netizens, Guoco Tower integrates 890,000 square feet of premium Grade A office space and 100,000 sq ft of lifestyle and food retail concepts, with 223 hotel rooms in Sofitel Singapore City Centre, as well as an Urban Park and City Room events venue. Crowning the 290-metre high Tower is the luxurious 181-unit Wallich Residence, with Singapore’s largest, highest and most expensive penthouse.

Guoco Tower has since been accorded the accolade for rejuvenating the Tanjong Pagar locale with its focus on placemaking and won the 2019 Urban Land Institute Asia Pacific Awards for Excellence as well as the Gold in the FIABCI World Prix d’Excellence Awards 2020 in the mixed-use development category.Another iconic project by GuocoLand is Martin Modern, which Cheng remembers as the first development which he oversaw the entire process from land acquisition till its launch in 2017.. It was rare for a new development to be launched in the Robertson Quay area, especially one of this size and scale, and GuocoLand was determined to introduce a new definition for what constitutes luxury in today’s setting.

During the conceptualisation of Martin Modern, Cheng and his team focused on the fact that people today lead very hectic lives. They set out to design a home where time slows down and people can recharge physically and mentally and eventually thought of creating a home within a botanical garden. The large plot of land at Martin Place in prime district 9 was perfect for the concept as GuocoLand could allot 80 per cent of the land to greenery and landscaping featuring a wide variety of species of flora.

The next step was to find the right architect to partner with in this unique project, one that would bring a newer and more edgy aesthetic and bring a new definition to modern luxury. Eventually, GuocoLand selected to work with ip:li Architects, led by four-time winner of the prestigious President’s Design Award Yip Yuen Hong. At the time, ip:li Architects was prolific in building Good Class Bungalows (GCBs) for clients with more cutting-edge taste and Cheng felt it would be interesting to see how they would bring out the luxury of GuocoLand’s high-end properties.

It was a rewarding journey for all as ip:li worked closely with the company’s experienced projects team to bring something new to the upmarket riverside neighbourhood.

After seeing what a different product Martin Modern was, property buyers flocked to the sales gallery during its launch, making it one of the best-selling projects for the year.

Over in the East of Singapore, GuocoLand is setting a new standard of luxury living in Meyer Road, one of the most highly coveted address which is within walking distance to East Coast Park.

Sitting on a very rare freehold site facing the Singapore Strait is Meyer Mansion, where the developer also dedicated 80 per cent of the land to landscaping and luxurious facilities. These include an impressive arrival and a grand lawn reminiscent of those of large, luxurious bungalows that line Meyer Road, and not one but two good-sized pools for an exclusive 200 households.

The design team went to great lengths to ensure that every unit has a view that is priceless – either unblocked panoramic views of the glittering sea, the lush greenery or the tranquil of the landed housing estates. Among the eight different layouts, 25 premium four-bedroom apartments even come with dual balconies offering the best of both worlds with views on both sides.

Strategic management is also essential

But what is a well-designed development without good management?

A developer’s management of the development adds great value to the property, to the benefit of its owners and tenants.

GuocoLand's $2.4 billion mixed-use development Guoco Midtown, located along the Beach Road/ Ophir- Rochor corridor is demonstrable of this vital factor. When completed in 2022, Guoco Midtown’s offices will be fitted with an air filtration system that will remove up to 95 per cent of air pollutants as well as exterminate bacteria and viruses in the air through ultraviolet germicidal irradiation. It will also have several contactless features, including lifts that will automatically detect the destination floor of the tenant or visitor when they pass through the turnstiles.

GuocoLand is a trailblazer for future workplace health, hygiene and safety, having made these investment decisions in 2013 for Guoco Tower, and in 2018 for Guoco Midtown, way before COVID-19 hit our shores. The developer’s foresight will find resonance in companies willing to co-invest in a safe environment for their most important asset, human capital. They see value in being located in such developments. In turn, the value of the development will also increase and result in a win-win-win outcome for developers, owners and tenants. Innovation is key to rejuvenationThere have been notably more black swan events in the recent five years than in the past . As a result, property developer are constantly challenged to innovate both in terms of product and processes.

Cheng says that innovation is “critical and necessary” to GuocoLand’s success in wooing informed buyers and investors who take pride in owning their choice properties and care about quality.

Innovation and transformation are familiar terms to GuocoLand. Increasingly, GuocoLand’s developments have been known to push the envelope not just in terms of architecture and design, but also its focus on user experiences and uplifting of the district.

For instance, since the opening of Guoco Tower, it has become an icon and the heart of Tanjong Pagar. People come from all over Singapore to meet at Guoco Tower because of its accessibility being located right above the Tanjong Pagar MRT stations (one of the busiest stations in Singapore), the availability of public open spaces and the strategic placemaking activities.

“Guoco Tower has been, and continues to be, a catalyst in the rejuvenation of the Tanjong Pagar district," said Cheng, who also co-chairs the Business Improvement District, or BID, called Discover Tanjong Pagar, comprising eight landlords that collectively work to place-manage the district.

Building a Community and Sustaining the Environment

GuocoLand looks at its properties not as monolithic silos, but as game changers which create positive impact to its surroundings. Through its developments, GuocoLand strives to build and enable a community of people and businesses whereby interactions can lead to collaborations, and where synergies can create exciting outcomes for all.

Such efforts make Guoco Tower attractive to both home buyers and commercial tenants who wish to dwell in an development that supports creativity and innovation and further brand Tanjong Pagar as a prime residential and commercial district that is even more exciting than the traditional prime districts.

“A project that is good for the district will likewise be good for the project,” Cheng remarked. “GuocoLand takes a holistic view of the entire district’s vibrancy rather than the standalone success of our developments. For example, building relations with users and occupants of adjacent properties and having open, communal spaces is important. This synergistic approach will help bring different people and groups together, encouraging meaningful community bonds and uplifting the entire precinct.”Besides pursuing innovation and building communities, supporting sustainability is also a given for Cheng in an age of climate change. No businesses should exclude sustainability in their roadmaps, he believes, a view supported by people who work and live in Guoco Tower and who view climate change as an urgent existential threat to the world and its inhabitants.

GuocoLand has been honoured with several environmental sustainability awards, such as the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) Green Mark Awards and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.

However, Cheng adds that sustainability is not simply “green-washing”, a play on the term “white-washing”, and the act of simply window-dressing developments to be marketed as environmentally- friendly. To him, real sustainability is inextricably embedded in property development work. It is about designing spaces flexibly to cater to the various life stages of the occupants, considering practical elements of their usability and liveability, and building a property which lasts.

Over the last five years, it is apparent that GuocoLand has emerged as a leader in urban rejuvenation through her developments. The developer is slated to move ahead of the times by anticipating the future, and providing world-class real estate solutions. Perhaps the old real estate mantra no longer applies when it comes to GuocoLand.