DAMANSARA Perdana is an affluent fully-integrated township in Petaling Jaya. Part of the area was initially occupied by squatters and Orang Asli settlers up until 1995 when MK Land Holdings Bhd took over the site under a varied privatisation scheme and started to develop it.
MK Land was invited by the Selangor government as the latter didn’t see fit to leave the piece of land undeveloped.
Part of the deal was for MK Land to relocate the Orang Asli families to the houses that it built.
Damansara Perdana has quickly flourished to become one of the best-selling townships in Petaling Jaya, and developers are still coming in as the township is now more well-connected than it was before via the New Klang Valley Expressway, Sprint Highway, Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong, Penchala Link and Middle Ring Road 2.
Motorists can travel to Kuala Lumpur city centre during non-peak hours in less than 30 minutes.
There is also connectivity via rail with the opening of the Sungai Buloh-Kajang mass rapid transit line, which has three stations nearby—Mutiara Damansara, Bandar Utama and Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI).
The third light rail transit line (LRT3) will further enhance the area’s connectivity when it opens between Bandar Utama and Klang.
Damansara Perdana is surrounded by high-end neighbourhoods, such as Mutiara Damansara, TTDI and Tropicana, and is just minutes away from shopping and entertainment centres like 1Utama, IKEA, The Curve, Tesco, Cathay Cineleisure and Sunway Giza Mall.
The township comprises PJ Trade Centre, Empire Damansara, and Empire City, which is still being developed.
PJ Trade Centre is a Grade A office development and a maiden project by Tujuan Gemilang Sdn Bhd, led by its executive chairman Ahmad Khalif Mustapha Kamal, who is the son of MK Land and Emkay Group founder Tan Sri Mustapha Kamal.
The project was completed in 2009 and consists of four office towers of 20 to 21 storeys (Tower A, B, C, D) with more than one million sq ft of office space.
Tower A was acquired by MKN Holdings and it is now called Menara Mustapha Kamal. Tower C and D were purchased by the Inland Revenue Board and Perak-based manufacturer and developer Taiko Group, respectively.
PJ Trade Centre has won many design awards — for commercial (office) design, landscape architecture and interior design.
The design of the buildings, or basically the entire development, is something that other developers could look at and emulate to protect the environment.
A key design feature for PJ Trade Centre is the 1.01ha plaza at the front of the project that boasts forest trees. About 1,600 trees were planted at the plaza, the 12 sky terraces and two sky gardens.
The offices, too, have their own private gardens. The developer used simple local materials for the project, notably overburnt bricks on the facades, vent blocks that form the 20-storey screens and raw concrete walls. The facade was designed to weather naturally and is low maintenance as it does not require any cleaning.
All the main lobbies, lift lobbies and washrooms in the offices are naturally lit and ventilated. The office spaces were designed as thin masses of 15-metre deep, allowing plenty of natural light and cross ventilation through large sliding windows.
The vent block screens minimise heatgain and air-conditioning loads. No plaster or paint were used on the facades, and no false ceilings were installed in the lobbies or corridors/verandahs.