La Promenade, a premium gated community by Hock Seng Lee along the Kuching-Samarahan Expressway, won twin prizes at this year's Sheda Excellence Awards. 

The 200-acre mixed development won in the masterplan category, while Precinct Premiere — the first launch within La Promenade — won another prize in the landed residential category.

Present at the glittering awards ceremony on Friday were Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg, Sheda president Dr Christopher Ngui and award judges representing various professional fields. 

La Promenade and Precinct Premiere won for tiptop security and industry leading landscaping. Notable features include a true two-tier security system and 50 per cent more open green spaces than typical residential estates. 

"This is a prestigious honour for HSL. It is a win for the team because this really has been a team effort. Our security and landscaping departments have worked tirelessly to ensure the high standards we set for ourselves at the start have been achieved and maintained," said executive director Simon Lau Kiing Kang. 

"From inception, we aimed to create one of the best housing projects in Malaysia. We studied other award winners in the region, and adapted La Promenade to local needs. We set core values and have stuck to them: La Promenade is a premium product in a low-density area, offering peace of mind and high quality of life."

Lau added La Promenade's newer phases like Precinct Luxe, which comprises more affordable super-link houses, were designed to incorporate the best of luxury condominiums with advantages of traditional homes. 

"We had this idea of 'landed condominiums'. The architect incorporated the same sense of security of condo-living, with all the extra lifestyle features, into landed homes. It's the kind of innovation HSL is known for. It's practical, realistic and doable but only if there is a high-level of commitment from all of the team."

Judges for this year's excellence awards include Terence Yap from the Royal Institution of Surveyors Malaysia, Khairul Annuar Mohd Sepuan (Institute of Landscape Architects Malaysia), Victor Lai (Malaysian Institute of Planners), Lee Mei Ping (Institution Of Engineering Malaysia), Ting Ing Sun (Association of Consulting Engineers Malaysia), among others. 

A key judging criterion was for the project to "respond to real market needs, quality of concept and relevance to environment". Judges also looked for "value-addedness" in project originality and management services. 

The latest win is another feather in the cap for La Promenade. Last year, it won the prestigious Malaysia Landscape Architecture Awards, also in masterplanning category.

Corporate affairs manager Shirley Loo noted La Promenade has been featured as case studies for university interns with architectural firms involved with HSL.

"In December, La Promenade was selected by the local government as a benchmark project featured on a tour for Dongcheng officials, who were here exploring possibilities of a new friendship city status with Kuching," Loo said. 

"Looking ahead, we will launch Precinct Grande in March — the next development adjacent to Precinct Premiere within La Promenade. Grande will be mostly three-storey bungalows and duplexes. We are working with three teams of 'star architects' for Grande."