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Recently, two students – Abhinav Kumar, MBA REUI and Shashank Vashishtha from MBA REUI participated in the REACh Asian Cities program. As part of the program, both visited 6 asian cities, namely Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo, to get an idea of the international real estate and construction sector.
This 30 days tour gave them hands-on experience in six regional centers in real estate, construction, design, layouts and sampling. The students got to explore the latest technological trends in the industry in a major city environment, gained an understanding of the nature of different market systems along with corporate structures under differing legal jurisdictions and their effect on the urban environment.
Sharing his experience with us, Ahinav Kumar says, “The travel opportunity gave me the platform to meet some of the largest property firms, business executives, senior property personnels and business professionals and such a learning curve enhanced my basics of real estate. Most of the projects were unique in their approach in terms of land conversion process. The program integrated theory and practice with a strong on‐site orientation and proactive participation. Site visits and workshops investigate innovative, new, and established buildings and developments that have challenged the industry”.
Shashank Vashishta says, “The Asian Cities Programme was a one of its kind experience, in terms of learning and I would like to thank the School for such an opportunity. We covered these cities in 30 days where we got the opportunity to interact with the real estate professionals and tried to gain and exchange knowledge. This also gave us the prospect to interact and exchange notes with students from other countries."
This six cities program majorly focused on interacting with the leading developers, designers/architects, asset managers, investors and funds, etc. in which they presented their way of work, the strategies behind their successful piece of work, major challenges they faced, complying with the stakeholders, raising of funds, design implementation, etc.
Here are some of the projects covered under REACh Asian Cities Program:
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International Finance Centre (IFC), Hong Kong
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Lai Sun Development, Hong Kong
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CBRE, Hong Kong
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International Commerce Centre (ICC), Hong Kong
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Goodman Interlink, Hong Kong
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Grosvenor Westminster, Hong Kong
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Tanjong Pagar Centre, Singapore
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Gensler (Architect & Design firm), Singapore
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Parkside Plaza, Shanghai
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HLD (Handerson Land Dev. Co. Ltd.), Shanghai
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SOHO, Beijing
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Parc 1, Seoul
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Ginza Marunouchi, Tokyo
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Daiwa House, Tokyo
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Shinjuku-Nomura Building, Tokyo
Our students claimed to understand the following through the visits made to these cities:
- Internationally, more focus is given to sustainability.
- Latest technologies and construction techniques are being employed globally,
- Government policies and framework are transparent and thus support the overall improvement of the city.
- Projects are completed well within the time frame. More focus is given during the planning stage. For instance, in the very initial stages design consultants, green consultants are hired. They also focus on stakeholder management and thus consider public realm. In these countries, developers do not build focusing just on profit, but ensure delivering projects in time to maintain their reputation
- Infrastructure is very well organized and managed by the government.