Mr Lim says he has been “very impatient”, always looking for the next big project.
“Life is short. You want to make sure you are involved in some significant projects and leave a mark.”
Mr Lim joined Wanda Ridong in October 2014 as design director and deputy managing director working on the Surfers Paradise mixed-use development backed by Dalian Wanda, one of China’s biggest property developers, and its Chinese partner Ridong Group.
The Jewel complex, across three crystalline towers, will house Wanda’s first five-star Vista hotel outside China, 512 residential apartments, basement parking and high-end retail and dining precincts.
“The building form is based on the crystal rocks found on the Gold Coast,” he said. “It will be a key driver of the Queensland market, as we are the first project to go ahead. It will give the market the confidence.”
The joint venture partners have engaged Brookfield Multiplex to build the project, which is due for completion in 2019.
Mr Lim, who stepped in during the design development process, has worked closely with architect firms DBI and the Miami-based Oppenheimer, while co-ordinating with many other stakeholders including the government.
“Our role is to push the design into the right direction,” he says.
“We have to make sure the concept of the design is retained from an architect’s point of view and also from the developer’s perspective. You have to achieve a balance.”
It is a role very different from just being an architect, where Mr Lim started his career. Born in a small town in East Malaysia, Mr Lim inherited his father’s love and talent for drawing.
“It just happened when I was 16 years old. An architect came to our town and put up an exhibition, trying to do master planning for our town. I looked at that and said, ‘Ha, that’s interesting!’”
That passion drove Mr Lim to study in Australia, graduate with first-class honours from the University of NSW and work at Sydney architecture practice Anchor Mortlock Woolley.
After some first-hand work on projects including the refurbishment of Sydney’s Queen Victoria Building, Mr Lim wanted to test his capacity for large-scale projects and ended up as a key design member for the $2bn Meydan Grandstand project in Dubai in 2008.
“Over there you have no such thing as 9am to 5pm, no such thing as the weekend, as the competition is very fierce,” he says. “There is a saying in New York — if you can make it in New York you can make it everywhere. It’s the same with Dubai.”
It was the following two-year stint in China that saw Mr Lim transitioning from architect to project management.
When he returned to Australia three years ago, it was a different world, with more Asian developers in town, some with very ambitious projects.
“More Asian faces, more Asian developers — I see this as a positive sign as the market is a lot more vibrant and a lot more exciting. It is a different market,” said Mr Lim, who worked as design manager for Sydney’s tallest residential tower, the Greenland Centre, before moving to Wanda Ridong.
“It’s a different way of thinking they are bringing. Asian developers are usually more involved in the project, like material procurement. They are very conscious of getting the project built in time, because time is money.”
Originally Published On: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/