mont kiara many units but mostly are vacant units

How's the sales going on? Block C opened? Anyone went to the sales gallery today?

One of the reason they are not building smaller units is because residential titled land is guided by density. Meaning to say there is a limit to unit per acres. Normal density will range from 60-100 units per acre. Based on 40 acres and 2800 units , they are getting arou d 80 units per acre. If they build small unit they will earn less as the no of units is fixed. But the size of the units is not fixed. This may be one of the reason they build a bigger unit ie 1,400 sf and 1,600 sf.
Those in town launching small units is usually commercial title and is guided by plot ratio.
Normal plot ratio is 1:4 in town. Plot ratio allows the developer to build based on area. Let's say you can build 500,000sf of NFA, they will surely build smaller unit as there is no cap on the number of unit. Of course some area you gotta look at height restriction and also special conditions ie next to the palace, embassy etc.

Developrs just need 40% sales to break even at these prices. So over and above they make pure profit. They can hold and say sales are 100 %. So launch another one. So if sales are good should open block c. Why dlay in block c.

Good explanation. No wonder Empire damansara @ Dsara Perdana, and TA- Damansara Avenue @ BSD can built so many smaller units such as studio and soho. They are under commercial land title.

aren't anyone worried about landslide? after all, it's high density and on top of a hill , and very slope

If u see the masterplan in Page27, and the news that someone posted. The construction is only on Slope Class 1 & Class 2.
The developer will retain the Slope Class 3 and Class 4 for the reserve forest. On the reserve forest part i guess the developer is just add on the facilities like canapy walk, tree hse, viewing deck, they try to avoid/ minimize cutting the trees so that the trees will hold the soil which is below and above the contruction site.

Slope Class 1 basically very low risk based on the current technology. Slope Class 2 is more challenging.

This post has been edited by cheahcw2003: Jan 14 2012, 10:43 PM

well said
In city centre, I think we are heading no end, Plot Ratio will keep increasing, do you know how much cost incurred for a developer to change the plot ratio? Say 1:2 to 1:8?

Damansara Rock quarry used to be operated by IJM for many yrs before LDP was opened

Anyone checks with L&G about the distance btw DF and the ex quarry? if nearby, then worthwhile to check if the DF hill is stable after of years of hill blastings due to quarry operation.

Hillslope very depend to concrete worked. There might start with screw concrete in the earth to avoid noisy to neighbour land. The building might deep few inches if fully occupied due to the weight of people & furniture, or how many density. Develop on hillslope prefer low density & dimension of building.

Most important Indonesia earthquake, the highrise condo on the hillslope will affect shaking or not?

Any professional engineer can answer this question?

just to add.. from my limited knowledge..

plot ratio and density-ratio are usually applied together.. and yes, usually in commercial, the measure is plot ratio.. however, residentials built on commercial-titled land will still have to adhere to the density-ratio.. and density-ratio itself can also be defined by "x units / acre" or "y people / acre"..

and generally.. to throw everything wide open.. compensation factors like the appended comes into play in determining final number of units..

1. the size / configuration (rooms to a unit) which dictates the ppl/acre ratio..
2. carpark allocation, distinguished between covered and un-covered - the covered may consume part of the plot-ratio provision..
3. the height restrictions as u mentioned, and approved land-use..
4. the set-back requirements, including in the jungle, which all these may be offset, increasing or decreasing the final combination of units and sizes..

and many more..

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Added on January 15, 2012, 12:58 pmi think not really safe to assume that the same soil composition can hold the same capacity, vis-a-vis a 28 and 40-sty building even if it's right next to each other.. i remember in 20-trees west, sdb did emphasized that its site will not be affected by landslides / construction of neighboring projects.. the basis of their claim is more inclined towards the proven-technics, best-practices deployed to construct hill-slope developments, considering the existing land conditions.. of coz, the min requirements thru soil-tests, the natural surrounding walls, the density of the trees forest etc. will ultimately tell which are the most suitable approaches.. these inter-dependency factors are very cruicial imho, re foresta.. anw, just purely from common view, not trying to sound like an expert..

This post has been edited by EMYGHT: Jan 15 2012, 01:06 PM

It is very difficult to increase the plot ratio from the standard 1:4 to between 1:6 and 1:8.

As the public now is very knowledgeable, the local authority is adamant to increase plot ratio form fear of being accused of corruption. Plot ratio increment decision usually lies with the State CM.

Some conditions required ie infrastructure support capability, a portion to cater to the low income group, higher premiums to convert to higher plot ratios, I.e land office will impose a higher premium for plot ratios usually calculated based on 30% of the current land value. Can be appeal for lower premium plus staggered payment.

As for the usage of density to be applied together with plot ratio is only occasionally used on a certain special land as mentioned earlier. At present these 2 are no longer used together.

Is plot ratio based on NFA or GFA?

Based on GFA.

Very informative update indeed.

Another point to note is how many ton of earth (inlcuding rocks, trees, soil etc) have to be removed from the Hill for the Project.

At this juncture the risk is not imminient but it will be a real factor after all Phases have been completed. No need to think far as just look at Damansara 21 is a good example.

Even if the Classes 3 and 4 slope are not touched the question is whether the surrounding development will have any impact on Classes 3 and 4. slope. Anybody know how far is the nearest Condominium to Classes 3 and 4 slope?

Any satellite view of the hill at current stage?

Abt the safety of this hillside construcion project, we will never get the right answer.
If we ask the developer they will definately assure and promise that landslide will not happen. If u ask the land office they will sing the same song or else they will not approve the project. If u ask the competitors/ other developers u may get the different answers.
So we need to go back to the fundamental and basic/ background of the developer. If the developer is

a) the hit and run/shortsighted type, they will not care much abt the long term safety of the project, after completing 12 blocks just pack and cabut
b) if they think this project carry their brand name, as the whole BSD is under them, then they hv to develop and execute it well. If this project fail, both LnG and Mayland will disappear in the market. Having said that if phase 1 fail due to landslides, all their following phases will be gone like that, ended up developer will lost thousand times more than the purchasers.

This post has been edited by cheahcw2003: Jan 16 2012, 12:33 AM

hows the sales going on now?