'Unfathomable' high-rise on tennis court-sized land riles residents

A 32-story building built on a base smaller than a tennis court? A group of residents from Scott Sentral and Villa Scott condominium in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur find this hard to fathom.

And yet in 2016, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) issued the development order for just such a building right smack in their midst. 

The approval for the office block, which includes a 10-storey mechanical carpark, on an L-shaped land measuring just 1,208 sqm, came as a surprise to the residents from the two condominiums located adjacent to the land.

They have objected against the project since 2015, shocked to find that the base of the building would be between 232 sqm and 251 sqm. 

Scott Central condominium joint management committee chairman Winnie Chan said they were worried about the impact of such a dense project on such a small plot of land on the neighbourhood. 

“Although the project may abide by the standards required for the construction of a new building, such a building in a confined space would require a very strong foundation and may jeopardise the safety of the surrounding buildings during piling works," she said.

“The building will be a fire and safety hazard. 

"We objected to this project back in 2015 during the two-week objection period, but no hearing has been conducted since,” she said.

This morning (Aug 4), about 60 residents gathered outside the site to protest against the development, calling the application and approval process flawed. 

Villa Scott resident A.S Ratnam said everything went silent after the objection period, and all attempts to get feedback from DBKL on the objection hearing fell on deaf ears. 

“We later found that the development order was given in January 2016.