Ultra-high-rise buildings act as landmarks across the world. Think of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the Shanghai Tower and New York’s One World Trade Center.
Samsung C&T has extensive experience constructing such skyscrapers, including the Burj Khalifa, which was completed in 2010 and remains the world’s tallest building at 828m. The company’s Engineering & Construction Group was also behind previous record-breaking structures such as Taiwan’s Taipei 101 rising 508m into the sky and the 452m-tall Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Now, just a stone’s throw away from the Petronas Twin Towers, Samsung C&T’s Star Residences construction is further enhancing the Malaysian capital’s impressive skyline.
The tallest residential buildings in Malaysia
Just months away from completion, Star Residences will be Malaysia’s tallest residential buildings. Made up of three towers and a retail hub, two of the towers stand 265m-high with 58 stories, while the other has 57 floors. The six-story retail hub is to be filled with large commercial facilities, including a luxury shopping center.
This project is all the more significant because it marks the company’s first building project in Malaysia fifteen years after the successful completion of the Petronas Twin Towers back in 1999.
It is now a busy period for Samsung C&T in Malaysia as it has two other ongoing developments nearby Star Residences and the Petronas Twin Towers, both located in the KLCC Park area. These sites include Sapura HQ, which got underway in February 2016, and Petronas Podium, which was ordered in July of this year. Samsung C&T is making history by building a new skyline for Kuala Lumpur residents.
Integrating Samsung C&T’s ultra-high-rise construction capabilities
Among Korean construction companies, Samsung C&T has performed remarkably well in terms of overseas expansion in the field of ultra-high-rise buildings. Having repeatedly broken height records with the Burj Khalifa, Taipei 101 and Petronas Twin Towers, Samsung C&T was a logical choice to build Star Residence.
The company has applied its various capabilities throughout the project, including concrete mix pumping technology and high-strength concrete construction used when building the Burj Khalifa and Petronas Twin Towers.
Site management skills have also come into play, allowing Samsung C&T to maintain a floor cycle of six to seven days – meaning that it is able to build one floor per week.
A success story through localization
Another impressive feature of this construction project is that 16 of the 26 field staff are from Malaysia.
The managers of Star Residences’ four teams for construction, planning, quality and electric equipment are also all local employees.
Samsung C&T has additionally made efforts to build a solid relationship between its Malaysian staff and their Korean counterparts. For example, employees dispatched from Korea take Malaysian language classes for two hours every Saturday. Also, employees have been urged to share meals together, rather than having just some of them eat at separate Korean restaurants.
Pride and sacrifice
Star Residences is planned for completion in February although its towers are already proudly rising above Kuala Lumpur. That sentiment of pride will no doubt be shared by many of the employees who have given so much to ensure the project’s success.
Vice President Kang Kyung-ju is among them, having been in charge of the site for the past five years.
“I would like to reaffirm our commitment to completing the project and building something we can all take pride in,” Kang said. “I would like to thank all the personnel members at the site for their efforts and sacrifices and to our colleagues back at the head office for their support.”
