10 years of making a good town

AS a town-maker, Gamuda Land creates places that people will want to call home and be a part of as well as grow up and grow old in. Jade Hills is a prime example of this commitment towards good town-making.

Spread across 338 acres (136.8ha) of land, Jade Hills is Gamuda Land’s fifth development after Kota Kemuning, Valencia, Bandar Botanic and Horizon Hills.

Ten years ago, Kajang was densely populated and lacking well-planned gated and guarded developments.

Recognising the opportunity amid rising demand for a self-contained residential development with its own commercial components and amenities, Jade Hills was conceptualised and realised, becoming the first open-concept, gated-and-guarded township in the Kajang area.

Jade Hills is blessed with rolling hills and lakes as well as conveniently accessible amenities nearby. It is accessible from six major highways and is a short distance to several tertiary education institutions as well as golf clubs.

Additionally, Jade Hills is one of the least dense residential areas with an average of only four units per acre (0.4ha).

With a close-knit community of around 1,700 people, the development mainly attracts professionals and businessmen who wish to upgrade their standard of living as well as expatriates and investors.

When you get the places right, the town works

Gamuda Land approaches town-making through mindful planning to bring all components of a town together harmoniously, such as how the parks and lakes are laid out to open up space within each neighbourhood and how the streets are laid out to encourage walking and biking.

This creates a sense of place and a personality for the town so that when people move in, they experience a real difference.

In Jade Hills, different spaces . following features:

• Olympic-size swimming pool

• Tennis court

• Badminton court

• Basketball court

• Gymnasium

• Kids’ game room

• Table tennis area

• Teahouse

• Study area

• Multipurpose function rooms for events such as meetings, seminars, weddings and banquets

The learning place is Eaton International School, which was established in 2013 and moved to its new six-acre (2.4ha) campus in Jade Hills last year. Additionally, a nine-acre (3.6ha) government school reserve has been set aside for development.

Listening to what the land has to tell you

For Gamuda Land, an important part of planning is listening to the land.

Jade Hills’ location is naturally blessed with rolling terrains and

. manner according to the topography of the land throughout the development.

This allows Jade Hills to feature Hills homes with pleasant vistas, Garden homes with shady canopies and Lake homes with waterfront views. By working with nature, the essence of the place remains unchanged, only enhanced.

A town is community

Gamuda Land believes that every town should have a community where people know one another, live and play together and look out for each other.

At Jade Hills, the town is laid out to promote connectivity so you will know your neighbours. The streets are not just designed for cars but also for walkability and bikeability.

Besides that, green threads behind the houses provide linkage to parks so residents experience a fascinating journey as they walk or bike from their homes down the streets to the town square.

Twenty per cent of the land of Jade Hills is dedicated to lakes and pocket gardens that are seamlessly the shoulders of each street of Jade Hills to serve as green corridors to every part of the development, including the clubhouse and shops.

The green threads comprise continuous walkways and jogging tracks to encourage people to interact with each other.

Creating value for the community

Over the years, Jade Hills has set new benchmarks that have resulted in value creation for the community.

For example, it is the only Construction Quality Assessment System-rated development in Kajang, with the development’s Jadite Suites serviced apartments achieving a score of 82.8 – making it the highest scorer for high-rise residential buildings in Malaysia last year.

Jade Hills also won the Malaysia Landscape Architecture Award in 2010 under the Developer (Master Plan) category, presented by the Institute of Landscape Architects Malaysia (ILAM).

The township is managed by a dedicated in-house management team – the same team that manages Gamuda Land’s Madge Mansions and Valencia, both of which are winners of TheEdgeProperty.com’s Malaysia’s Best Managed Property Award this year.

Ongoing works to enhance the town’s landscapes as well as regular maintenance of the lakes are closely monitored to ensure the town remains attractive to its community.

As a result of good town-making principles, attention to quality and dedicated township management, Jade Hills has seen a capital appreciation of 15% to 35%.

Future plans

Gamuda Land continues to place emphasis on placemaking at Jade Hills.

Plans are in place to bring in lifestyle attractions comprising food and beverage outlets as well as access to some outdoor activities for residents of Jade Hills.

Gamuda Land is now planning for a shuttle service to the nearby Kajang MRT station, which will connect the community to other parts of the Klang Valley.

Gamuda Land’s long-term goal is to be among the top three Malaysian property developers by 2020 with a sales target of RM5bil.

It has formulated strategies and action plans to achieve this goal, including innovative and new-tomarket products with future-proof master plans, enhanced branding and customer experience services, recognition by industry bodies through awards and internal talent development to better drive its progress.

For more information, call 03-8741 9890 or visit www.gamudaland.com.my/ jadehills/.