An aerial view of La Promenade comprising HSL Tower cum La Promenade Mall. – Photo courtesy of HSL
KUCHING: Hock Seng Lee Berhad (HSL) is proud to announce that its new headquarters along the Kuching-Samarahan Expressway is Green Building Index (GBI) certified.
Known as HSL Tower, it will be one of eight GBI-rated buildings and the first private GBI office in Sarawak.
The GBI certification means HSL Tower is estimated to be 20 per cent more energy efficient.
The 10-storey HSL Tower, scheduled for completion next year, is divided into three sections.
The top six floors of 7,623 square metres will be HSL’s new headquarters while level four is designed as office suites for long-term lease and levels one to three will be La Promenade Mall, a services-oriented mall for an upscale supermarket, premium banking, pharmacy and restaurants.
According to HSL managing director Datuk Paul Yu Chee Hoe, HSL Tower will be a showcase of the company’s roots as a construction firm specialising in advance methods.
“It is a signpost of where we want to be as an innovative firm. We will continue to be technology guided for Sarawak’s betterment,” he said in a press statement following a media tour of La Promenade here yesterday.
Yu said the company’s design HSL Tower befits its slogan ‘We’re building your future today’.
HSL Tower and its accompanying mall is the commercial focus of La Promenade.
A quarter of La Promenade covering 200 acres facing the Kuching-Samarahan Expressway is zoned as commercial, while the remaining 150 acres stretching beyond a lake linking to Sarawak River, are premium gated and guarded homes.
Yu pointed out: “GBI aside, HSL Tower will be lined with greens. Terraces around levels five, nine and 10 will be full of plants and trees.”
These wrap-around terraces constitute 25 per cent of the overall floor area for a pleasant office environment.
“The parameter of the ground floor will be tree-lined and the strip of land along the expressway will be beautified continuously.”
HSL general manager Ling Lai Kiong was quoted explaining how the modern all-glass facade of HSL Tower achieved maximum efficiency.
“We want to harvest natural light into our building while preventing heat build-up. To do this, we had to use special ‘low-e’ glass, which limits thermal transfer.
“As a result, we can reduce internal lighting and air-con usage,” he said.
Sensors placed throughout the building would also optimise energy use while glazed light tubes on the ground floor would let light into the basement carpark.
The building management has also drawn up a plan to inculcate ‘Reduce, reuse and recycle’ values into its workflow.
HSL corporate affairs manager Shirley Loo said they will engage with shoppers, retailers and residents on their ‘Green Week’ events where they collect pre-loved items for charity and recycling.
The GBI certification is the latest in a line of planning and design accolades for HSL. Last April, La Promenade won the merit prize at the Malaysian Landscape Architecture Awards.
The landscape judges praised La Promenade for allocating 15 per cent of the development land to usable, green and open spaces,above the government guideline of 10 per cent.
Yu concluded: “HSL thrives on long-term planning, be it the GBI building for landscape master-planning. Trying out something new or going the extra mile is always going to be challenging and tough, but so far so good. Our new HSL Tower is not just a new building, it is a new way of thinking.”
Among the highlights of La Promenade are Precinct Luxe that comprises 112-unit Super-Link Homes with clubhouse facilities and a children’s playround.