URBAN ENERGY IN CAMBODIA

DOING IT FOR THE KIDS

From artsy, repurposed industrial spaces to towering condominiums, Urban Village and Factory Phnom Penh harnesses Cambodia’s youthful energy

BY AL GERARD DE LA CRUZ

HOUSING PLUSH CONDOMINIUMS, FLEXIBLE COMMERCIAL SPACES, ARTISANAL F&B BUSINESSES, AND A SPACIOUS CREATIVE HUB, URBAN VILLAGE AND FACTORY PHNOM PENH IS A LYNCHPIN OF INTELLECTUAL, TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT IN CAMBODIA

Cambodia has one of the youngest populations in Asia with two-thirds of its people under the age of 35.

Therefore, it is fitting that one of the country’s bestselling mixed-use developments, Urban Village and Factory Phnom Penh, is inundated with youthorientated draws.

Hong Kong conglomerate Goldfame Group has a long history in the country as an operator of some of its most prolific garment factories. Its knowledge of the nation’s demographics meant it knew what it was doing when it kitted out its ambitious live-work-play showpiece.

As well as the country’s first trampoline and skateboard parks, Urban Village and Factory Phnom Penh features many cultural arts and co-working spaces.

“We are now employing our third generation of employees,” says Catherine Chan, director of Goldfame Group. “We did a lot of due diligence work and compared different countries in Southeast Asia. Cambodian people are friendly, energetic, and the population is very young.”

With a USD1 billion price tag, the project is regarded as the largest investment by a Hong Kong developer in Cambodia. “At first, we just wanted to improve the housing for our employees through real estate development,” explains Chan. “It was getting more difficult to find decent and affordable housing in Phnom Penh due to its rapid growth.”

While this is not Goldfame’s first livework-play project—that honour goes to Urban Loft in Phnom Penh’s fringe Sen Sok district—it is the company’s most centrally located: set between Samdech Hun Sen Boulevard and National Road 2.

Over the last 12 years, Goldfame made moves to acquire and develop the strategically located site. With China Construction (CC3) as contractor and structural consultant, Goldfame was able to complete the first phase of the project last year.

Four 23-storey buildings now tower above the site, offering 828 residences that run the gamut from studios to three-bedroom units.

A second phase, launched in early 2020, will rise even taller: three 51-storey buildings interlinked with a 60-floor tower, housing 1,850 “luxury but affordable” condominiums.

The brownfield site was an industrial complex—Levi’s jeans and Speedo garments used to be manufactured in the factories. But rather than demolish the factory complex, the multi-pronged design team of Atelier Cole, Bloom Architecture, Eden Landscape, and Mutro Design embarked on one of the largest adaptive reuse projects ever witnessed in the country.

They have since revitalized the industrial edifices into Cambodia’s citadel of cool: The Factory Phnom Penh.

“As with any project of this size, the phasing was difficult but the idea to split the project between The Factory and Urban Village proved to be a good one

MANY SOCIAL INTEGRATIONS IN A KHMER VILLAGE HAPPEN OUTSIDE, IN THE STREET OR AROUND THE MARKET SPACE. THE MAIN IDEA IS TO CREATE A COMMUNITY RATHER THAN A HOUSING DEVELOPMENT

APART FROM ACCESS TO THE WORKSPACES AT FACTORY PHNOM PENH, URBAN VILLAGE RESIDENTS ENJOY AMENITIES LIKE A SWIMMING POOL, RETAIL STREET, AND EVEN A PET PARK, A FIRST IN THE CITY

THE DEVELOPER CREATED GENEROUS LOBBY SPACES AND INCORPORATED LUSH PLANTING ON EVERY FLOOR IN THE FIRST PHASE OF URBAN VILLAGE

overall,” says David Cole, principal and founder of Atelier Cole. “The site provides a wonderful connection between National Road 2 or the river and the wider development to the west.”

The 3,500 square metres of award-winning office spaces in The Factory Phnom Penh were converted in part out of a former sewing hall. Bloom architects wanted to “retain the look and feel of a shed,” exposing the hall’s hardwood structure and keeping the cement, concrete, and corrugated steel elements in the material palette. Even a derelict water tower was turned into an oversized “plant pot” for a tree.

“We did not want to demolish this historical building,” says Cole. “As much as possible, the building fabric of the factory has been retained. Any addition has been carefully thought through.”

The Factory Phnom Penh, in hindsight, would not be out of place in Goldfame’s native city Hong Kong where cotton mills and textile factories have similarly been repurposed into creative hubs. The 3.4-hectare complex exudes youthful energy with skateboarders and trampoline gymnasts rubbing shoulders with creative types ranging from artists to dancers to musicians.

The Factory Phnom Penh’s 2,200-squaremetre “Artspace” is the nation’s largest creative hub, filled with art galleries and artisanal studios. Outdoors, spectacular murals from Khmer and foreign artists adorn the complex’s alleyways. A fleet of 50 bicycles is available for visitors to ride for free around the campus.

The thought process behind Urban Village and The Factory Phnom Penh tries to reconcile life in a traditional Khmer village with Goldfame’s urbanite sensibilities.

“Much of the social integrations in a Khmer village happen outside, in the street or around the market space,” explains Cole.

“The main idea is to create a community rather than a housing development. Historically, a village has the elements that provide us with

THE SECOND PHASE OF URBAN VILLAGE IS DISTINGUISHED BY TALL, INTERLINKED BUILDINGS WITH LARGE APERTURES, WHICH HELP TO LIGHTEN THE WIND LOAD AND REDUCE THE VERTICAL NATURE OF THE BLOCK

the means to live comfortably. Urbanisation gives us the promise of greater financial stability.”

Atelier Cole has taken such communal elements to the next level in Phase 2 of Urban Village, where a podium roof boasts raised gardens and recreation spaces, plus offices, shops, and other conveniences.

“If the Factory is the soul of the development, then the podium has been designed as the heart,” says Cole. “It’s a publicly accessible mixture of a town square, high street, and park. The design concept balances the desire to keep an active streetscape level with the need to provide a substantial amount of car parking.”

The upcoming towers in Phase 2 appropriate a ubiquitous quirk of high-rise Hong Kong architecture: larger-than-life building holes. Punctured into the buildings in Phase 2, at heights of 80 metres and 121 metres, respectively, are apertures that facilitate airflow through the interlocked buildings and cool down their exterior walls. “There was a huge amount of optimisation in the design that took inspiration from other high-density cities such as Hong Kong and Singapore,” says Cole. “The core layouts and circulation were designed to minimise waste of space. Facades and balconies were designed to be mindful of distances between units to avoid any issues.”

Myriad educational facilities have become integral to Urban Village and The Factory Phnom Penh. By the same token, the megadevelopment now caters to a different kind of resident beyond homeowners and property seekers. Every year, The Factory Phnom Penh runs the Anyone in Residence (AiR) programme, giving artists, creatives, and startup hopefuls short-term access to the ArtSpace facilities.

“I hope that The Factory can continue to be a place that nurtures homegrown arts and tech-based startups while bringing new opportunities to residents of Urban Village,” says Cole. “Seeing all the happy faces of the visitors satisfies us the most.”

FAME AND FORTUNE

Goldfame Group has put Cambodia on the map in more ways than one.

Known as one of the biggest knitwear manufacturers in the world, the Hong Kong conglomerate serves such big-hitting apparel brands like Zara, C&A, Uniqlo, Calzedonia, Lidl, Matalan, Dunnes Stores, H&M, PVH, IZOD, Arrow, GAP, Old Navy, Costco, and Walmart from its factories and headquarters in Cambodia, China, and Spain.

Over the last few years, Goldfame has forayed into Khmer property development, egged on by the country’s promising fundamentals. Cambodia’s GDP has grown at a rapid rate of 7% for 10 consecutive years, making the nation a “favourable investment environment,” notes Catherine Chan, director of Goldfame Group. “Its rental returns are some of the highest in Southeast Asia. Cambodia is also the only country in Southeast Asia with no restriction on using and exchanging USD currency.”

A signatory to many bilateral free trade agreements, including one inked with China in September, Cambodia has emboldened Goldfame Group to develop large-scale residential projects such as Urban Village and Urban Loft in recent years. “Many foreign direct investments have led to an increase in housing demand,” notes Chan.

It has also delved into commercial development with The Factory Phnom Penh, a strong lynchpin of startup culture in the country.

“We see a lot of smart, hardworking people in Cambodia,” says Ben Li, founder and chairman of Urban Village and The Factory Phnom Penh, in a statement. “Now you have options. You not only work for an employer—now you can be the employer.”

FACTORY PHNOM PENH EXEMPLIFIES GREAT ADAPTIVE REUSE, HAVING TRANSFORMED A DEFUNCT MANUFACTURING COMPLEX INTO A VIBRANT COMMERCIAL AND CULTURAL ARTS SPACE WHERE STARTUPS AND SUBCULTURES CAN THRIVE

Putting people first

Curtis S. Chin has been a tireless advocate for sustainability both in his role as US ambassador to the Asian Development Bank and now as a consultant for think tanks and private sector firms

BY BILL BREDESEN

Adecade has passed since Curtis S. Chin served as the US Ambassador to the Asian Development Bank under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

Yet many of the issues he spoke about and advocated for then—including those related to sustainable urban development—have only grown more urgent to everyday citizens as well as boards of directors and city leaders. During his nearly four years on the ADB Board of Directors, Chin spoke regularly about the need for change if the ADB was to fulfill its mission to help developing member countries reduce poverty and improve quality of life.

“The need for more responsible and sustainable development has become more evident and more complex this last decade as cities have grown,” Chin says.

CURTIS CHIN VIEWS POLLUTION AS A MAJOR ISSUE FACING ASIA’S CITIES. TO THAT END, HE IS LENDING HIS ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS TO A RANGE OF ‘CLEANTECH’ INITIATIVES GEARED TOWARDS IMPROVING THE ENVIRONMENT

The private sector has unique responsibilities in shaping the future of Asia’s cities. I hope that it recognises that diverse, thriving communities can be at the heart of sustainable urban development

“While the needs and issues have become clearer—witness the shared concerns over Asia’s increasingly polluted skies and water—we should recognise that putting in place solutions will not be any easier without the engagement and support of all stakeholders.”

After stepping down from his ambassadorial post, Chin was named the inaugural Asia Fellow of the non-profit, non-partisan Milken Institute in 2014, and is also involved in a range of board and advisory work, splitting his time between the United States and Southeast Asia.

His appointment—and the establishment of the Milken Institute Asia Center in Singapore—underscored the economic and policy thinktank’s belief in the critical importance of the Asia-Pacific region to the global economy, and the role it will play in shaping future cross-border solutions.

From your tenure at the ADB to today, you remain an advocate for sustainable development. What is your focus?

I advocated then and now for a greater focus on what I call the three Ps of responsible development—a focus on people, planet and partnership. That is a focus on understanding the real impact of development projects on people, especially the most vulnerable in Asia-Pacific’s poorest and least developed nations.

A focus on the planet means ensuring development projects are done more sustainably and with due regard for the environment. And the focus on partnership means recognising that the best solutions draw together resources and lessons learned from across the public, private and nonprofit sectors. I have been blessed to work across all three sectors and see the challenge and opportunity in each.

What are some ways the ADB and others can promote sustainability, particularly amid the urban sprawl in so much of Asia?

The ADB—along with other multilateral development banks, international financial services institutions and a range of private

sector and civil society institutions and enterprises—can play a key role in achieving a more sustainable future. These institutions can do so by helping shape policies, and also critically through their decisions as to what gets financed—and not just what gets built but how something gets built.

According to the UN, 60% of the world’s population will live in cities by 2030. Change can be driven by policy and innovation and “the next great idea.” Yet something that’s been underscored to me in my work with the Milken Institute, and in the world of private equity, is that you might have a great idea for a new business, institution, product or service. But if you don’t have the money or access to capital, that idea might simply remain just an idea.

Here’s where the ADB and similar institutions can have an impact. They can push for policy changes but also help ensure that capital is available and mobilised to flow to the ideas, projects, companies and institutions that can drive change.

CHIN BELIEVES IN PRESERVING THE VIBRANT STREET LIFE IN ASIA’S CITIES THAT IS A STRONG PART OF THEIR APPEAL

What are the private sector’s responsibilities in all this?

With access to capital and return on capital driving development, the private sector—as a source and user of capital—has unique responsibilities in Asia’s urban development. I hope that the private sector recognises that diverse, thriving communities can be at the heart of sustainable urban development and long-term profits. Planners must consider not only the impact of a city’s design and construction on traffic and parking but also on fundamental values such as social equality.

The private sector’s seeming embrace of strong “environmental, social and governance” or ESG standards must go beyond the rhetoric of marketing to investors to actual measurable and impactful behavioural change.

Amid the rush to maximise real estate returns, cities and their developers should also commit to incorporating public, open spaces to build a sense of community, cultivate street life and encourage social interaction. Such an approach to development can be a driver of long-term value and sustainable change that fosters a sense of community that spans all walks of life and income levels.

In other words, liveable cities need more than tall buildings. This is something that real estate developers and the city, provincial and national authorities who regulate them must take to heart.

The people, the street life and the neighbourhoods must not be lost and forgotten in the shadows of ever-taller buildings and ever-larger shopping malls. Asian cities must keep three benchmarks for liveability in mind: community, resilience and sustainability.

You’ve written frequently on the challenges of urban sustainability, particularly on issues like pollution and waste management. What more can be done in this regard?

Governments and businesses must recognise that there are better ways to align short-term economic interests with the longer-term goal of ending the rampant pollution that much of the increasingly urbanised Indo-Pacific region is known for. There is hope, as evolving Asian consumer behaviour and activism further encourage the transition away from a focus on “development at any cost.”

I see this in my work with impact investors and start-ups, including through serving on the advisory board of Equator Pure Nature, a

MAXIMISING GREEN SPACES FOR RESIDENTS IN URBAN AREAS WILL HELP ASIA’S CITIES BUILD RESILIENCE, SAYS CHIN

Thailand-based “cleantech” company that produces, markets and sells a line of natural, environmentfriendly, biodegradable household cleaning products under the brand name Pipper Standard.

With growing numbers of consumers in Asia concerned about the impact of polluted skies and water, the trend toward healthier products that began in Europe and the US has come to this region. It is time for all of Asia to transition to a greater focus on sustainability—and to put an end to the type of pollution that leads to hashtags like #smogageddon and #airpocalypse trending on social media.

What do you think the “new normal” looks like for our cities and property developments postCovid, in 2022 and beyond?

The reality is that financial constraints and competing agendas might well ensure that lessons learned will not be applied as much as they should in many of our cities and property developments postCovid. Access to capital and a drive for short-term profit or revenues may understandably remain nearterm barriers to major change.

That is one reason that I often underscore that newer does not always mean better, and that small, simpler, and “low-tech” changes can also lead to key longer-term differences.

In my work with TAEL Partners, a private equity partner to businesses in Southeast Asia, I see the tremendous value of proven technologies like wasteto-energy, which helps turn what might otherwise have been seen as refuse into a source of income and electrical power. Understanding and embracing the concept of a circular economy are key to more resilient and sustainable cities.

One other point to add here: Across the region, and indeed around the world, Covid has shone a spotlight

CHIN SAYS THAT LIVEABLE, DYNAMIC AND VIBRANT CITIES ARE A MUCH GREATER TESTAMENT TO A COUNTRY’S PROSPERITY AND POLICY SUCCESSES THAN ANY NUMBER OF SKYSCRAPERS

on the inequality that continues to haunt and hinder national development. This is particularly true when we look at the region’s healthcare infrastructure and what has been described as a K-shaped recovery, where the richest recover first and a “new Covid poor” continues to suffer. Access to capital and access to healthcare are critical drivers of prosperity.

How can local and national governments work together to promote “greener” cities and create more public spaces for people and nature?

Asia’s cities must build resilience, and that includes “greener” cities with more public space for people and nature. Governments and developers have too often been at odds on these issues.

This is especially important in Asia, a region prone to natural disasters, from earthquakes to flooding. Beyond skyscrapers, Asia’s cities must develop more comprehensive security, effective public health systems, inclusive housing and labour policies, and diverse transport networks, as well as efficient delivery of emergency services.

Here, the private sector, including insurance and reinsurance companies, must play an important role, alongside government policies that foster a more enabling environment for urban sustainability. With more people moving into cities, environmental challenges are increasingly an urban concern. Incorporating innovations and technologies in areas such as infrastructure, energy and transport will be essential to building smarter cities, if not “smart cities.” The contribution and partnership of the public, private and non-profit sectors will be vital. Liveable, dynamic and vibrant cities are a much greater testament to a country’s prosperity and policy successes than any number of skyscrapers, no matter how big, how dazzling or how tall.