FEASIBILITY STUDY
THE MASTER PLANNERS Gordon Dorrett president, Forrec
“Our masterplan had to take into con- sideration components like access, parking, back of house, in-park and external sightlines, existing site fea- tures, circulation and relationship to adjacent uses while always thinking about the guest experience. The primary constraint was the
overall size of the property and, par- ticularly, the area limited to Universal Studios. We had a clear brief from Genting Resorts that the park had to be large enough to handle the required annual attendance and capacity, provide room for future expansion and ensure that it would be regarded as a true Universal Studios park experience. To over- come the park’s size, we maximised the in-park guest experience. This meant transitions between lands had to be fast but effectively designed, sightlines had to ensure containment within lands or be carefully directed to key visual icons and back of house areas had to be minimised and, in some cases, relocated off site. Singapore’s tropical climate
with high humidity and rainy sea- sons meant that we had to provide
environment (the heightened interest/ peripheral development). RWS has announced a preliminary
attendance target of 4.5-plus million visi- tors for the park during 2010. There are no major branded theme
parks in the Singapore/Southern Malaysia regional market currently. We expect Universal Studios Singapore to help grow the overall market, leading to increased theme park visits per capita for the region.
HOW WILL IT IMPACT OTHER PARKS? The development of Universal Studios does not preclude the development of other theme parks and major attractions in the Singapore/Southern Malaysia regional market area. On the contrary, we believe the region has enough market strength combining tourism and regional population to potentially become a destination hub. There are several examples of multi-
theme park destination hubs in other parts of the world, including Southern California; Orlando, Florida; Tokyo, Japan; Paris, France; and the hub in Hong Kong/ Shenzhen with similarities to Singapore. Universal Studios will act as a catalyst for
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more weather protection than other Universal parks. From a masterplan- ning standpoint, this meant ensuring there was ample room to locate shade and rain shelter as well as create heavily landscaped rest areas and cooling zones for the guests. The original site was heav-
ily planted, which provided both opportunity and constraint for the masterplan. While fortunate to be able to work on a site with mature landscape, the local government wisely insisted that we maintain a number of stands of mature trees and a few specimen historic trees. We therefore had to work within these heavily-treed areas and limit construction in these zones. The limited site area also meant
that parking and service had to be located below ground, so at least half of the park was built on top of the parking structure. We had to ensure that the largest, heaviest and most dynamic attractions were located off the parking structure so that they could be built economically and not cause undue stress and extra cost to the parking structure.”
other attractions and leisure and tourism development in Singapore and Southern Malaysia, which will benefi t the region as a whole by expanding the market.
HOW IS A MULTI-THEME PARK CREATED? Creation of a multi-theme park hub requires several circumstances. The fi rst is combined resident and tourist market strength, another is interested developers. Additional factors can greatly assist in this process, such as governmental policies which enhance the opportunity. The notion of a multi-theme park hub in Southern Malaysia/Singapore is highly compatible with Singapore Tourism Board’s T2015 tourism plan and the Malaysian govern- ment’s plans for Iskandar Malaysia. It’s the goal of Iskandar Malaysia to create an eco- nomic zone in Southern Malaysia which is directly related to Singapore and benefi ts both countries. Part of this strategy is already underway
with the new Legoland Malaysia Resort under construction, with expected open- ing in April 2012. This includes a Legoland theme park, themed family hotel and water- park. Other proposed parks, attractions
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The limited park size meant that spe- cial care had to be taken to maximise the in-park guest experience
and resorts are planned in Nusajaya and Desaru, Iskandar Malaysia.
WHY WILL IT WORK? The industry is moving to Asia. We con- sider Asia as the major growth region now and in the future, with key fundamentals in place and new development potential. We believe the development of the multi-
park destination theme park hub can be realised over time, with its success tied closely to the implementation of T2015 in Singapore and the Iskandar Malaysia strat- egy. This will be possible by the merging of economic interests of Singapore and Southern Malaysia, potential co-market- ing of the region as a multi-attraction and diverse tourism destination hub, the easing of border procedures and improved trans- portation access and links. ●
Christian Aaen is regional director ,
entertainment and leisure for Asia at AECOM Economics based in Hong Kong
AM 3 2010 ©cybertrek 2010
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