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Monday, December 24, 2012

SPA, Yoma Strategic unveil ‘landmark’ project for Yangon


An artist’s impression of the finished Meeyahta development in downtown Yangon.  (Photo: SUPPLIED/Yoma Strategic Holdings)An artist’s impression of the finished Meeyahta development in downtown Yangon.  (Photo: SUPPLIED/Yoma Strategic Holdings)
The new buildings will be built around the former Burma Railways Headquarters, which will be refurbished and made into a 5-star hotel, Mr Pun said.
“We need to understand that this is an important asset for us, albeit one that is a small part of the project – the heritage building is about 10,000 square metres, while the whole development will be over 180,000 square metres or so.
“However, it will be the focal point. In terms of the traffic, the ingresses and egresses are designed so that you see as much of the frontal façade of the historic building as possible. And the high-rises will be built surrounding this historical building with enough spacing so as to give the full view and yet not be overly imposing or detract from the vista,” he said.
Mr Pun added that the company is still waiting for specific guidelines from the Yangon Heritage Trust regarding preserving and conserving heritage buildings.
“I think we’re in the position where we can contribute to this process as well as set some kind of precedence for conservation. We’re bringing in specialists to see how we can best conserve it. It’s a sensitive issue because there’s always the contention between balancing how to make it functional and at the same time preserve as much as possible the historical elements of the building,” he said.
He added that the company expected the building to be finished within four years but added, “with restoration of historical buildings you never know how complicated it can be until you actually start it and then run into problems.
“It’s a very complex process – we’ll find problems as we go along. … We have this plan to deliver it within the four-year timeframe and if everything goes smoothly it may well be completed before then,” he said.
However, the project also necessitates the demolition of the Grand Mee Ya Hta building, which Mr Pun said would cost the company about $1 million a year in lost revenues.
“We had quite a lot of debate over this – it was not an easy decision to take given that it’s still a relatively new building. There’s a lot of sentimental value as well … but we came to the decision after thinking long and hard that the project would ultimately be a lot better if we take the pain at the beginning and knock it down.
“Right now the Grand Mee Ya Hta sits quite close to the middle of the site so without taking it apart we cannot space out the mixed use new buildings efficiently and sensibly.”

Ref:mmtime

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