Sumurwang Tower at i-City Golden Triangle (i-City GT) in Selangor's capital city will be renamed Mercu Maybank, following the entry of Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), Malaysia's largest bank by assets to the Grade A Green Building Index (GBI) smart office tower.
Maybank will occupy 14 floors of the tower in i-City, totaling 162,000 square feet, as a permanent alternate office location for the group.
The office space will be able to accommodate roughly 1,400 Maybank employees by the first half of 2022.
Menara Maybank, located on Jalan Tun Perak here, will remain the group's headquarters.
I-Berhad chairman Tan Sri Lim Kim Hong said: "We are very pleased with Maybank's decision to strategically expand its operations to i-City, offering high standards of quality and sustainability at a prime location. As a digitally-focused organisation ourselves, i-City is a ready-made destination of choice for firms looking to relocate with its world-class infrastructures."
The inclusion of Maybank to the smart office tower means that i-City has achieved an 80 per cent take-up rate within the first year after completion despite the pandemic.
The Multimedia Super Corridor-status smart office tower will be home to fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, multinational corporations, and international logistic players, according to Lim.
A spokesperson from Maybank told the New Straits Times recently that the group's decision to secure office space in Mercu Maybank is solely for business continuity management (BCM) and resiliency planning to ensure its operations and service delivery are not disrupted.
The spokesperson added that the tower will serve as an additional permanent alternate office site for the group to accommodate new work arrangements resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, such as hybrid and remote work considerations for the group's various functions and businesses.
"Given our experience with the Covid-19 pandemic and its prolonged impact, we have taken into consideration under our BCM processes the need for a permanent alternate office site to carry out business as usual operations as part of risk management.
"This is meant to help ensure business continuity of Maybank's operations in any event and facilitate the quick activation of BCM protocol when the need arises," the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said that keeping a safe distance from Menara Maybank in Kuala Lumpur was an important factor in locating a suitable permanent alternate office location.
Further, the spokesperson said that the smart office tower at i-City is deemed suitable given its premium corporate office design, its security features, and GBI certification, which bodes well with the group's sustainability commitments.
Spanning across 320,000 square feet, the 33-storey Mercu Maybank is a key component of driving i-City, Malaysia No.1 Technology City, which also includes the Central i-City mall, DoubleTree by Hilton, and the new i-City Convention Centre, to become the financial hub as well as home to global fortune 500 companies.
The technology city is empowered by the Mother of Internet technology-related infrastructure, and dedicated internet access powered by a 400G capable high availability network.
i-City GT has a gross development value of RM10 billion and comprises corporate towers, cyber office suites, serviced residences, hotels, convention centres, Tier 3 data centres, Central i-City mall, and a CNN accoldate leisure theme park.
By the end of 2021, I-Berhad will see the completion of DoubleTree by Hilton hotel and Hill10 Residences, which is sitting on top of the hotel.
The hotel is slated to welcome its guests in 2022, Lim said.
Another new residential project in i-City, known as BeCentral, is now open for sales.