Swire Properties today (Thursday, 16 March 2006) announced the main contract award for One Island East, valued at over $2 billion, to Gammon Construction Limited. The project is scheduled for single-phased completion in March 2008, aided by a pioneering digital project management system which will facilitate collaboration across all disciplines of the development process so that the completion date is achieved. This in turn will reduce construction waste significantly. Also underscoring Swire Properties' environmental protection values will be a paperless bidding process.
Sharing the same vision, Thomas Ho, Chief Executive of Gammon Construction Limited said, "I believe we share the same values and business ethic as Swire Properties and we look forward very much to working with them on introducing safe, environmentally responsible and technically innovative construction at One Island East."
Swire Properties' Chairman, Keith Kerr said, "One Island East embodies Swire's continuing commitment to the development of our investment portfolio on the eastern shore of Hong Kong Island. It is a process evolved over the past 30 years and one which will continue into the future so that it remains one of the territory's best managed commercial communities. With over 300 multinational corporations already resident in the hub, One Island East will offer a premium business environment and will integrate with the facilities already well established in the area."
This 70-storey, triple Grade-A office building, will add a further 1.5 million square feet to Swire's Island East investment portfolio. Strategically located, One Island East commands superlative views of the harbour and is within the immediate proximity of both Taikoo and Quarry Bay MTR stations. It is comprehensively serviced by the public transportation network and supported by car parking for 1,000 vehicles. Pedestrian access to the rest of Island East is well facilitated by a covered walkway system, private roads and landscaped plazas.
In addition, businesses within One Island East will be able to leverage off The Matrix infrastructure that provides super high-speed and cost efficient telecommunications with dedicated fibre-optic links that ensure the highest degree of security and privacy. This is reinforced by the tenanted presence of over 350,000 sq ft of data centres and world-class carriers in Island East.
Surrounding One Island East is a host of dining, shopping and entertainment facilities that help form a quality community for work and leisure. Over 60 restaurants and cafes complemented by alfresco dining unique of the area offer cuisine for diversified tastes and budgets. In the vicinity is the 1.1 million square feet Cityplaza shopping centre which has excellent choices of shopping and entertainment including over 160 shops, an ice rink, five first-class cinemas with two elite-grade Director's club houses. Whilst Butterfield's, a private members club which operates within TaiKoo Place, provides the ideal venue for elegant dining and conferencing.
Island East is one of the territory's best planned and established business districts, consisting of over seven million sq ft of office and retail space stretching from TaiKoo Place in the west, to the Cityplaza retail and office complex in the east. All of the Island East area is developed and managed by Swire Properties.
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