Laguna Lakelands: A new 1 million-sq-m residential development in Phuket by Banyan Group

When Ho Kwon Ping and his wife Claire Chiang bought a large piece of land in Phuket 30 years ago, they set a precedent for responsible, sustainable travel by rehabilitating the damaged grounds of an abandoned tin mine and turning it into a verdant resort destination.

Today, the 1,000-acre Laguna Phuket is the largest integrated hospitality development in Asia, comprising seven hotels, an award-winning 18-hole golf course, multiple F&B and leisure amenities, several branded residences, as well as lush parklands and beachfronts facing the Andaman Sea. Every year, about one million visitors (or 10 per cent of all visitors to Phuket) head to Laguna Phuket.

Now the founders of the world-renowned Banyan Tree hotel, which has expanded to 12 brands spread across 20 countries under Banyan Group, is creating a new development that warrants another superlative. Laguna Lakelands will be Phuket’s largest intentional residential community, built on a 1-million-sq-m (276 acres) plot adjacent to Laguna Phuket.

The US$2 billion (S$2.67 billion) international lifestyle community development will feature waterfront villas and condominiums weaved together with botanical gardens, parks, a rainforest, lagoons and green hills. These will be connected by 15km of walkways, footbridges and cycling trails.

With this project, Ho, who is the executive chairman of Banyan Group, wants to promote “social sustainability” – an anomaly in the world of luxury residential development where accentuating the haves and have-nots is standard practice. Much of the grounds, such as the parks and biking trails, will be open to public rather than only being reserved for the residents of the luxury homes.

A lot of thought went into the design of these amenities. There will be hillside adventure and woodland play zones. Cycling enthusiasts can enjoy either the cycling trails or a dedicated mountain bike park. There will even be a rainforest walkway to a treetop lookout for anyone who is interested to admire Phuket’s dramatic sunsets. Organic orchards, rooftop gardens for growing farm-to-table produce, a fishpond, and park seating surrounded by native wildflowers will be integrated into the green spaces to promote a “sustainability focused lifestyle”.

“One of the things I’ve always noticed when doing property projects in the last 30 years is that exclusive residential projects for high-income buyers are normally [housed within] gated communities. There’s this whole sense of exclusivity where the people inside are super rich while those outside are poor. In some places, they’re not that poor but in some places like Manila and Mumbai, slums are just outside,” Ho shared.

Ho wants to share the public grounds in Laguna Lakelands with “Phuketians” as the island lacks designated recreational public parks. “They don't have a Botanic Gardens, they don't even have a Lumpini Park like in Bangkok because all the large green plots were bought [and developed] over the last three decades,” Ho observed. This is where he hopes Laguna Lakelands can contribute, given its size.

“Laguna Lakelands would eventually house about 8,000 to 10,000 people; it’s a little township in itself,” said Ho. The lagoons will be connected to the water bodies at Laguna Phuket, expanding the activities people living in Phuket will be able to enjoy. The grounds of Laguna Phuket are already accessible to the public, outside the walls of the individual properties.

Ho hopes to create a better living environment everyone living in Phuket. “Young people in Phuket have no place to go, for walks or go camping, for example. We have a large lagoon that is almost 3km in length where we’ll have boating facilities. Embedded in the grounds will be a few small gardens, each with a different theme like one for children, another with another focus. If we do this well, which we hope we will, it will set a new norm for responsible developers to actually engage in social sustainability in projects in the third world, especially in the global south,” Ho remarked.

The development will have shops, services and lakeside dining destinations. It will also have a beach club for residents and a community country club with swimming pools, sports fields, tennis courts and space for other recreational activities for different members of the family, which non-residents can also be members of.

It is a fitting time for him to expand this aspect of the Group’s portfolio in Phuket, given the increasing number of people flocking to the island not only to holiday but also to either buy second homes or stay permanently. The number of new residential property transactions doubled in the past year, with Singaporeans reaching the top 10 nationalities enrolled at The British International School for the first time, indicating a long-term shift for families to move to Phuket. Already, according to Mastercard Destination Cities Index 2023, Phuket is the most visited resort destination in the world.

The reasons are manifold, with the COVID-19 pandemic and wartime strife as key reasons for global residents purchasing second or multiple homes to escape to. The conveniences of remote working and the resurgence of multigenerational living are also contributing factors.

Phuket is a perfect location for this. Said Ho: “It has an attractive year-round climate, 13 international schools, four marinas, great hospitals and is within five- or six-hour direct flight to over 40 per cent of the world’s population. It has become like the Mallorca of Asia, a sought-after lifestyle destination for people from around the world.”

He himself now has a home on the island. “For 30 years that I’ve been developing Phuket, I never had a home there; I would just go there and stay at a hotel because I had the same mentality as many people then that Singapore is home, and you travel around the world. During the pandemic, my wife and I quarantined in Thailand. We ended up building a home in Phuket, and now we also have a home in Japan because we’re doing several developments there,” shared Ho.

He analysed: “I think more and more, you are finding that people don't have one definition of home. Especially for those who have family ties or friendship ties in more than one place generally, the notion of being based for periods of time at your own little pad somewhere else in the world is catching on.” The redefinition of the office, especially post-COVID means that one is not tied to a location for work. I have more Zoom meetings now than before because it’s so convenient,” Ho commented.

The relatively affordable prices in Phuket also factor in its popularity. Added Stuart Reading, managing director of Group Property Development at Banyan Group: “High-quality property is still significantly cheaper in Phuket than in most of the buyer source markets like Russia, China or Europe.”

Said Ho: “Phuket is now seen as a global destination alongside places in Europe like Ibiza or the Caribbean. There have only been two major beach tourist destinations in Asia – Phuket and Bali. But Bali’s been slipping behind because it’s got its own issues of waste management, and the traffic congestion is even worse now. Also, Phuket has got the perfect weather; the whole of the Andaman Coast where Phuket is is nice and dry [perennially, making it attractive for those escaping harsh winters at certain times of the year].”

It is expected that up to 5,000 residences will be built in Laguna Lakelands over the next five to 10 years. Five themed residential areas – Hillside, Orchard, Forest, Lakeside and Lagoon – will be connected by extensive walkways and cycling trails. Phase 1 will include Lakeview Residences condominiums – a four-storey complex and another seven-storey complex complete with rooftop infinity pools and housing one- to three-bedroom units – and Waterfront Villas with four bedrooms that average a built area of 560 sq m as well as private pools and gardens. Prices start at US$190,000 for the smallest apartments and US$1.7 million for the waterfront villas.

It is timely that such an ambitious project has been added to the Banyan Group’s fold as it turns 30 this year. Alongside this, Ho aims to increase its hotel list to 100. “We never want to brag about what impact we reach but we’ve seen what we did in terms of sustainability 30 years ago to now. It was never with the intention of trying to impress other people, leaving a legacy and so on. It has led other developers to look at us and say that’s not a bad thing to do.”

He added: “To that extent, we’ve done things in hospitality that is quite novel, but we haven’t actually done anything in property development that is new and that can make an impact, but Laguna Lakelands could make an impact.”