KUALA LUMPUR: Property developer, Lend Lease Projects (M) Sdn Bhd, will explore the setting up of a training academy for its major project, the lifestyle quarter of the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX), as part of its evolving partnership with the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB).
Its managing director, Dinesh K. Nambiar, said the academy will be a pilot project for the Asian region and aimed to advance the skills and competencies of key workers with the introduction of its flagship Safety Supervisor Apprenticeship Programme.
“So we have got this training curriculum, and TRX is going to be the first major project that we will use to commit as a training ground, the ‘classroom’ that is to be translated into a project,” he told Bernama recently.
On innovation and improving the productivity, Dinesh said Lend Lease will also be working on the Industrialised Building System in TRX and set a new benchmark in the construction industry while hoping to reduce the dependency on foreign labour in Malaysia.
TRX will be one of the largest developments in Lend Lease’s current portfolio of global projects, where it has a 60 per cent partnership in the lifestyle quarter with TRX’s master developer, 1MDB Real Estate.
The TRX lifestyle quarter, a retail-led mixed-use development of over 6.88 hectares, aimed to become a global hub for international finance and business.
It is forecast to have a gross development value of RM8 billion upon completion.
Since Lend Lease inked an agreement with CIDB in April last year, the Australian-headquartered company has hosted many CIDB seminars on construction safety practices.
It also continued to participate in key events to promote the adoption of international best practices in construction safety methods for the industry, among them in plant and crane operations, scaffolding and welding.
Lend Lease is also working to enhance work site safety training in all six CIDB-owned Malaysian Construction Academy (Akademi Binaan Malaysia – ABM).
CIDB chief executive Datuk Seri Dr Judin Abdul Karim, said TRX will be made a showcase and centre of excellence for the safety standards in construction industry in the country, with the expertise of Lend Lease.
“Having an international experts like Lend Lease to collaborate with CIDB, we would learn more and able to enhance the image as well as able to offer opportunities for youths to join the construction industry.
Meanwhile, chief executive officer, Asia, Lend Lease Asia Holdings Pte Ltd, Rod Leaver, said in TRX, the workforce will experience a difference in developing the project as they would be upskilled, thus helping them to build a better career in the industry.
“We are committed to upskill workers in safety training, quality and also thinking holistically about health and well-being. They are not just here to be used as workforce, but will also be our partners and grow together.
“As one of the largest infrastructure property developers and investment managers in Australia, we see the opportunities to replicate our business here in Malaysia over a long period of time,” said Leaver.
The company, which has over 40 years’ experience in developing, building, owning and operating successful retail centres, has completed over 10,000 projects around the world.
It pledged to operate incident- and injury-free in all its construction projects in the Americas, Australia, Asia and Europe. — Bernama