Redefining Urban Regeneration: How Paramount Property Earned The Edge Malaysia’s Responsible Developer Award 2026
Petaling Jaya, 20 July 2026 – Paramount Property has been recognised with The Edge Malaysia’s Responsible Developer Award 2026, a humbling validation of our company’s long-standing operational ethos. Guided by our vision of changing lives and enriching communities for a better world and our overarching promise as The People’s Developer, we have consistently maintained real estate development must create enduring value without compromising the planet’s future.
At the heart of this recognition is our flagship regeneration project The Atrium, a 20-storey luxury residential development located along Jalan Ampang Hilir in Kuala Lumpur. Rather than taking the conventional route of tearing down an aging asset, Paramount Property transformed the former Ambassador Row Hotel Suites into a modern, climate-resilient residential landmark through strategic adaptive reuse.
The Case for Adaptive Reuse: Reimagining The Atrium
In an industry where the standard response to aging high-rise structures is complete demolition and rebuild, Paramount Property took a bolder, far more sustainable route with the former 20-storey hotel. Rather than clearing the 0.95-acre freehold site, we executed an ambitious adaptive reuse strategy to re-engineer the building into 241 modern luxury serviced apartments.
“Demolishing a 20-storey concrete structure in the heart of Kuala Lumpur’s embassy district would have carried a significant environmental cost,” explains Beh Chun Chong, Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer, Paramount Corporation Berhad. “We asked ourselves a fundamental question: Can we preserve the structural skeleton while completely reinterpreting the building for 21st-century sustainable living?”
By retaining the original reinforced concrete frame and core walls, Paramount saved approximately 1,000 tonnes of steel bars, 7,000 m2 of concrete, and 35,000 m2 of plywood formwork. This single decision drastically reduced the project’s carbon footprint while minimizing noise, dust, and heavy-vehicle traffic for the surrounding community.
Precision Engineering and Material Innovation
Executing adaptive reuse on a high-rise requires internal upskilling towards truly precise engineering. To modify the heavy 1980s-style facade and expand window openings without compromising structural integrity, the project team shunned aggressive mechanical hammering in favor of advanced diamond-cutting techniques. This approach eliminated structural vibration, reduced noise pollution, and controlled airborne dust.
Beyond structural preservation, The Atrium served as a testbed for low-carbon material innovation. Paramount became one of the first developers in Malaysia to deploy carbonscreed – a cement-like mortar infused with upcycled biochar.
“Carbonscreed carries an approximately 30% to 40% lower carbon footprint than conventional cement screed, and we used it across common walkways and poolside subfloors,” notes Beh.” The carbonscreed as a cementitious floor screed is typical cement screed, infused with upcycled waste materials also known as biochar. The amount of carbon sequestered through using carbonscreed in The Atrium is equivalent to planting approximately 14 mature trees yearly.
This commitment to sustainable material selection extends throughout the interior, incorporating lightweight concrete blocks for non-load-bearing walls, healthier paints and sealants, and eco-friendly laminate and vinyl flooring to ensure optimal indoor air quality.
Harvesting Nature: Passive Atrium Architecture
The architectural identity of The Atrium revolves around its namesake: a 20-storey central atrium originally inspired by late-20th-century hotel designs. We re-engineered this space into a passive environmental engine.
Replacing the old, opaque skylight with a modern high-performance glass roof unlocked natural daylighting across all 20 floors, eliminating the need for artificial lighting in public corridors during the day. The open central core acts as a natural ventilation stack, drawing fresh air upward and encouraging cross-ventilation across living units and sky terraces.
To enhance community wellbeing within a dense urban environment, sky terraces spanning several floors were carved out on Levels 6 and 13, creating sheltered open-air sanctuaries. On Level 20, an elevated sky deck features a 32-meter curved infinity pool designed seamlessly along the building’s original fan-shaped silhouette.
Greenery and Community Stewardship
Grounding the development is a deep respect for natural ecosystems. During construction, existing mature Tembusu trees on the site were carefully protected and integrated into the final landscape plan. Greenery covers 20% of the ground floor area—double Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s mandatory 10% requirement—helping to mitigate the urban heat island effect.
Every home is fitted with smart home automation to optimise energy consumption, while the property features EV charging stations, low-flow water fixtures, and full barrier-free accessibility for all ages and abilities.
The Atrium proves that the future of real estate lies not in starting from scratch, but in having the vision, bravery, and expertise to renew what already exists. Receiving the Responsible Developer Award for 2026 reinforces Paramount Property’s conviction that building sustainably is the path forward.
