Asia's growth over the past 20 years has changed the business landscape in many ways, with its rapid urbanisation and huge wealth creation in a short period of time. The biggest impact on companies is the attraction and retention of talent that is critical to power their continued growth.
As a result, developers face an urgency to create conducive work environments. Leading business space solutions provider Ascendas builds on its 30-year track record of developing holistic, sustainable environments for some 2,400 customers in manufacturing, research and development, logistics, business parks and commercial offices.
"Our customers require us to do two things. One, provide the best environment to help them attract and retain the best talents. Two, one landlord experience across Asia as they focus on their core business," says Aylwin Tan, Ascendas chief customer solutions officer.
First, Ascendas' response has been to adapt these requirements to conceptualise parks with integrated communities, which combine business, lifestyle, retail and hotel spaces.
One recent example is the Changi City@Changi Business Park, Singapore's first integrated development. It comprises ONE@Changi City, a business tower providing 650,000 square feet of quality business space; Changi City Point, a 200,000-square-foot retail mall; and Capri by Fraser, a boutique hotel-residence with 313 rooms. Changi City seamlessly integrates retail, hotel and office elements to meet the needs of a growing working community of multinational corporations at Changi Business Park.
Even for older projects, such as the International Tech Park Bangalore (ITPB), India, Ascendas has reinvented the development concept. Conceptualised in 1992, ITPB was India's first IT park and it set the benchmark for the design and masterplanning of IT parks in the country. The success of ITPB catalysed the development of Whitefield and contributed to the development of Bangalore as the "Silicon Valley" of India.
Home to 100 multinational and domestic organisations and more than 30,000 working professionals, the 69-acre lushly landscaped ITPB provides 3.8 million square feet of prime business space. It is seamlessly integrated with a new 200-room five-star business hotel, Vivanta by Taj, a 450,000-square-foot Ascendas Park Square retail mall, and a wide range of amenities. ITPB also features one of the largest multi-storey carparks in India, catering to the increasing car population.