Part of the “AP World, A Vision for Quality of Life” initiative, the philosophy will be channeled into developing quality condominiums, single detached houses and townhomes. The first project into which the philosophy has been put into practice is Life Sathorn Sierra.

Located just 150 metres from Talat Phlu BTS station, Life Sathorn Sierra is being introduced as a prototype of sustainable and balanced vertical living on the “Forest Park in the City” concept and boasts more than 8,400 square metres of common areas.

Channelling the philosophy from its partner Mitsubishi Estate Residence, a member of Mitsubishi Estate Group, AP’s main mission is to draw a blueprint for good quality of life for everyone in society.

Planted with a wide array of flora, the project is a valley of trees in the middle of the city – a hub that connects stories of human beings, insects, towns, buildings, large trees and surrounding environment into a single entity and leading to sustainable growth.

The company has plans to channel the concept behind Izumi Park Town, a prototype for sustainable living, into developing its future low-rise projects to deliver good quality of life.

With the cooperation of a partner like Mitsubishi Estate Residence, which attaches importance to sustainable, balanced property development, AP intends to pass on sustainability know-how with a biodiversity philosophy which focuses on building a balanced ecosystem to ensure a lifestyle where human beings and the environment support

each other.

“Basing our ideas on the biodiversity philosophy of Japan, we created a forest in the city at Life Sathorn Sierra. We hope the green areas of Life Sathorn Sierra will eventually connect with surrounding green areas so that eventually we have a perfect ecosystem that supports

sustainable co-existence of man and the environment,” said Vittakarn Chandavimol, Chief Corporate Strategy and Creation, AP (Thailand).

“AI BIM (Artificial Intelligence Building Information Modeling) was a major component in the master planning of the project and used to control the quality of construction, interior functional design and landscape design. AIBIM also takes account of sunlight direction, wind

strength as well as the selection of flora that suits each season to ensure that Life Sathorn Sierra will be a real model for building a forest park in the city,” he adds.

Life Sathorn Sierra is surrounded by trees and boasts a frontal landscape that looks like a multilevel vertical valley of trees. It incorporates a hiking trail surrounded by a variety of flora together with a serene pool 100 metres long in a shape that is in harmony with nature.

The 40th rooftop floor is a panoramic sunken lounge designed as a large clear glass box surrounded by a man-made forest that’s inspired by The Cafe by Aman in Japan and which offers a view of Bangkok’s horizon.

“Over the last six years of our collaboration with Mitsubishi Estate Residence, we have drawn on their know-how to develop quality properties. This is another major step taken by AP Thailand to build on the main mission to draw up a master plan for sustainable living. Izumi Park Town in Sendai is a very interesting prototype for building an ideal town. It can be channeled into AP’s future low-rise projects that will deliver good living quality for residents in a truly comprehensive way,” Vittakarn added.

Hotel and resort brand Aman has signed a long-term partnership with Nai Lert to manage a hotel and branded residences under a long-term leasehold ownership. This will be Aman’s first resort and residences in Bangkok, and its second in Thailand after Amanpuri in Phuket.

Under the terms of the agreement, Aman and Nai Lert will develop a luxury hotel and residences project, with construction scheduled to commence in the coming months. The project is expected to welcome its first hotel guests and residents in 2022, Nai Lert Park Development managing director Naphaporn Bodiratanangkura said.

“Thailand holds a special place in our hearts ever since the conception of Amanpuri, and our brand, in Phuket more than 30 years ago,” Aman chairman and CEO Vladislav Doronin said. “Aman Nai Lert Bangkok will be situated in its namesake iconic central city parkland and will further cement our vision to bring the Aman ethos to global cities. Nestled in the century-old tropical gardens of Nai Lert Park, Aman Nai Lert Bangkok will offer a unique connection to the rich heritage and history of Bangkok enhanced by the gracious traditions of Thailand.”

Through the partnership, KE Group intends to leverage Plug and Play’s global ecosystem to identify the latest cutting-edge technologies to drive innovation across its business units.

“As one of Thailand’s largest real estate developers, we see the need to constantly strive for innovation. Plug and Play’s established global network will allow us to gain access to the latest technologies and identify key strategies that we can implement in our business units,” said group executive chairman Kaveepan Eiamsakulrat.

“Plug and Play’s inaugural programme in Thailand will focus on the smart cities theme that will bring together key players in real estate, energy and sustainability, mobility and the Internet of Things, and digital health,” said Shawn Dehpanah, vice president, APAC, Plug and Play.

“Our demand-driven and stage-agnostic approach provides corporate partners with unique access to solutions catered to solve their pain points and welcome the consumer-driven digital era. Our tested and best-in-class methodology will assist to facilitate a scalable platform for collaborations between start-ups and corporations based in Thailand and connected to our regional and global networks,” he said.

In harmony with the government’s Smart Cities Project, which aims to establish 100 smart cities nationwide by 2022, Plug and Play aims to provide its partners with horizontal access to its global ecosystem of start-ups across the United States, Europe and Asia. With more partners set to join its smart cities platform in Thailand, Plug and Play will continue expanding its reach within the thriving innovation scene in the region, the firm said.

The official launch of Plug and Play’s programme in the country will take place on September 17. The event will showcase panel discussions from industry experts, as well as start-up pitches from the company’s global ecosystem.

Office occupiers continue to seek “higher-quality space” in markets with robust infrastructure and social amenities despite weaker global economic growth in the first quarter of 2019 and worries about the US-China trade war, the report said. The race to attract talent by securing the most desirable work environments also remains intense. Due to limited supply and moderate construction in most cities, prime office occupancy costs have risen to new highs.

These increases persist even as space efficiency and cost management are top concerns for many tenants around the world. The continuing challenge for office occupiers is how to secure quality space and location that meet the increasingly exacting demands of the workforce, while also controlling costs. In this context, measuring superior productivity and user experience of such space becomes ever more important, the report said.

Bangkok is following this global trend. A handful of the best grade A buildings in the central business district (CBD) have rents significantly higher than the average. These buildings are not just in prime locations but are also technically better than their competitors in terms of air conditioning, lifts, energy efficiency and several other factors.

According to the report, the highest rents achieved in Bangkok are in Gaysorn Tower at Bt1,500 per square metre per month, Park Ventures at Bt1,300 and Bhiraj Tower at EmQuartier at Bt1,250, higher than the average CBD grade A rent of Bt1,040 per square metre per month for a small unit.

The rate of increase has, however, slowed over the past 12 months and was below the five-year average. The report said there would be a limited amount of new offices on the market up to 2021, but after that “new supply will exceed historic levels of growth in demand”. Many of the new buildings will be of a very high standard in terms of design, specifications and amenities.

For many tenants, there is an incentive to upgrade as they move to “agile” workplaces where there are no fixed desks. The population densities will be greater and so buildings need better lifts and air-conditioning systems to deal with additional staff. Employees also want better amenities and facilities and, if companies want the best talent, they will need to offer the best office environment.

The unanswered questions are how many office tenants will be willing to pay a premium rent that is higher than the average grade A rent for a better-quality building and how big will that premium be.