Construction has begun on Vincom Landmark 81, a 460m-high tower for Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam.
The tower is integrated into the public realm that addresses sustainable design challenges at various interfaces of the project– Bertil de Kleynen, Atkins
If completed now it would be in the world’s top ten tallest buildings, and work begins after the passing of a new law allowing foreign ownership of property in Vietnam.
Two of the UK’s largest consultants are working on the scheme, with Atkins acting as lead architect and Arup handling the structural engineering. Real estate services will be supplied by CBRE.
The 81-storey development is located in Vinhomes Central Park, a 44ha urban quarter for the city’s growing middle class, and buyers from the wider region. The development stretches for a kilometre along the Saigon River, and consists of luxury apartments, serviced offices, a marina and, at the base of the tower, a 241,000 square metre shopping centre.
The tower will feature a variety of small roof gardens (Atkins)
Bertil de Kleynen, director of architecture for Atkins in Asia Pacific, said: "Our challenge was to create a unique and dynamic landmark tower design to support Vingroup’s vision for a high-end mixed-use development. The tower is integrated into the public realm that addresses sustainable design challenges at various interfaces of the project."
He added: "We’re extremely proud to assist our client Vingroup – the most significant and active Vietnamese developer in the market – in creating landmarks that will be viewed as part of a modern and integrated Vietnam."
If it were completed today, Landmark 81 would be the ninth tallest in the world – between Malaysia’s Petronas Towers and the International Commerce Centre in Hong Kong.
When it is completed in 2017 it is expected that apartments will be sold to buyers from outside Vietnam. On 1 July a law came into effect allowing foreigners to own property, and foreign companies to own up to 30% of the housing in an apartment block.
Marc Townsend, the managing director of CBRE Vietnam, told Thanh Nien news that most foreigners interested in buying homes were from Asian countries and territories such as South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Singapore.
Vingroup announced last month that it was planning an 870ha resort project on Vu Yen island off the northern port city of Haiphong. The $870m five-year project will include villas, a golf course, an entertainment park, an eco-park and a cable car service.
