Property developer, Lend Lease Projects (M) Sdn Bhd will explore the setting up of a training academy for its major project, the lifestyle quarter of the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX), as part of its evolving partnership with the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB).

According to its Managing Director, Dinesh K. Nambiar, the academy will be a pilot project for the Asian region and aimed to advance the skills and competencies of key workers with the introduction of its flagship Safety Supervisor Apprenticeship Programme.

As Lend Lease has the training curriculum, said Dinesh, TRX is going to be the first major project that they use to commit as a training ground, in which the ‘classroom' that is to be translated into a project.

On innovation and improving the productivity, Dinesh said Lend Lease will also be working on the Industrialised Building System in TRX and set a new benchmark in the construction industry while hoping to reduce the dependency on foreign labour in Malaysia.

TRX will be one of the largest developments in Lend Lease's current portfolio of global projects, where it has a 60 per cent partnership in the lifestyle quarter with TRX's master developer, 1MDB Real Estate.

The TRX lifestyle quarter, forecast to have a gross development value of 8 billion ringgit upon completion is a retail-led mixed-use development of over 6.88 hectares while aimed to become a global hub for international finance and business.

Since Lend Lease inked an agreement with CIDB in April last year, the Australian-headquartered company has hosted many CIDB seminars on construction safety practices.

It also continued to participate in key events to promote the adoption of international best practices in construction safety methods for the industry, among them in plant and crane operations, scaffolding and welding.

Lend Lease is also working to enhance work site safety training in all six CIDB-owned Malaysian Construction Academy (Akademi Binaan Malaysia - ABM).

Meanwhile, CIDB Chief Executive Datuk Seri Dr Judin Abdul Karim, said TRX will be made a showcase and centre of excellence for the safety standards in construction industry in the country, with the expertise of Lend Lease.