Construction of Chiang Mai mall 'on
ECC International Real Estate is determined to launch Promenada Resort Mall in Chiang Mai by the year-end as scheduled, despite the collapse yesterday of a small section of the second floor.
"The incident has no impact on the mall’s target opening date. Promenada Resort Mall Chiang Mai is on track to open in late 2012," chief executive officer Tjeert Kwant said.
The collapse in the right building, representing less than 0.5 per cent of the total floor area being constructed at that time, occurred at about 8pm, he said.
No one was seriously hurt, but seven workers had to be taken to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries, and five have already been sent home. The other two remained in hospital for observation to ensure their absolute well-being and are expected to be discharged within two days.
"The safety of our workers and the workers of our contractor and consultants is our top priority. ECC International Real Estate reiterates its absolute commitment to observing international health and safety standards at all times, as it has in the past 21 years," Kwant said.
"Both an external investigation executed by independent experts and our internal investigation are currently being |carried out, and we will assemble a report shortly on this occurrence.
"Initial results show that the incident was not caused by a structural error and thus has no serious structural damage and the construction, except for the affected area, is proceeding as normal," he added.
Promenada Resort Mall Chiang Mai is a first in Thailand – an open-air retail resort combined with a multilevel, air-conditioned shopping mall. The Bt2.9-billion project is being built on 58 rai (9.3 hectares) of land and has been designed to blend in with the vibrant city lifestyle and surrounding "close-to-nature" feel of Chiang Mai, the company says.
The two, separate three-floor buildings with a bridge connection will provide 92,800 square metres in building space, of which 50,000sqm is net leasable area for 350-400 retail tenants.
ECC Group, founded in 1991 in the Netherlands, has a record of success in developing shopping centres in Central Europe. Since 2005, the company has expanded into Southeast Asia, including Vietnam and Thailand.
