Megabangna Shopping Centre reveals the progression of its sustainability policy that has been ongoing for the past eight years. With an astounding budget of over 1 billion baht, various energy conservation projects, and the addition of green spaces in and around the shopping centre, the strategy serves as a business development mission that adds value and enhances the surrounding communities to reinforce Megabangna’s positioning as “The Great Meeting Place” that fulfils all customers’ needs in every occasion.
Ms. Paphitchaya Suwandee, Managing Director of Megabangna Shopping Centre, said, “The challenges that we face today include conducting sustainable business while fostering our local communities and surrounding areas. To achieve our goals and overcome these challenges, it takes a group effort not only from our side at Megabangna but also from our local communities at large. Megabangna has committed to being an integral part in this master plan for the past 8 years now. Our strategy is to add value in all that we do. Since our opening, we have focused on all-round business operations. At the very core of our business is the shopping centre with a high-potential tenant mix to meet our customers’ needs. Essential to our daily operations, we have also made great efforts to improve our resources to maximise efficiency across the board. Our many synergistic collaborations with our business partners and tenants help provide customers with the best shopping experiences possible. For nearly a decade, we have done our best to improve our output and will continue to drive our sustainability policy into the future.”
One Billion Baht Investment for Sustainability Projects
Megabanga remains in-line with its fundamental vision and business development approach to care for the community and the surrounding environment. These sustainable development efforts include various energy conservation projects. Megabangna is proactively adjusting its business model to meet the dynamic lifestyles of our surrounding communities for improved quality of living. These efforts reach out to developing public utilities as well as adding more green spaces to align with the core business strategy.
“Each step that has been taken to develop and improve our sustainability infrastructure is a testament to Megabangna’s commitment and environmental stewardship for our surrounding communities and for our Earth. For example, in 2013 we implemented the environmental policy to ban all use of cooling chemicals in our building to reduce health risks, increase safety for staff, and save the environment. We installed nearly 4,000 solar panels covering 8,000 sq.m. of the shopping centre roof. These smart panels can produce approximately 1.43 million kilowatts of electricity per year, which is equivalent to 200-household electricity usage, and can reduce carbon dioxide emissions of up to 716,000 kilogrammes per years. One of our most significant projects was in 2015 with the partnering of air-conditioning powerhouse, Train (Thailand) Co., Ltd., to improve efficiency and reduce electricity consumption of our air-conditioning system by more than 20%,” added Ms. Suwandee.
In 2017, we introduced a new wastewater treatment facility that meets international standards. This system utilises membrane technology, the same technology used for drinking water purifiers, to treat wastewater without any use of chemicals. Wastewater treated through the membrane filter can be used for plant watering, cleaning and cooling systems of the central air conditioning within the shopping centre which helps reduce more than 100,000 units of tap water per year. To promote environmental awareness, this wastewater treatment facility doubles as a learning centre, so clear glass walls were installed in designated areas for students or interested visitors to come, walk through and learn about how to save the environment little by little. Since 2018, Megabanga has continuously replaced traditional indoor and billboard lighting fixtures with new, energy-saving LED lighting in common areas and nearly 95% of the stores. Since the implementation of these environmental projects, the continuous and practical energy management efforts have resulted in a reduction of over 15 million units of energy consumption for air-conditioning and lighting systems which equates to savings of about 50 million baht per year. Furthermore, staff are encouraged to promote environmental and conservation awareness with various energy conservation activities. They are also asked to share knowledge and understanding with the tenants. Megabangna staff even assist with electrical equipment inspections within their stores.
A Challenge for the Ages — Constantly Developing the Customer Experience for Ultimate Convenience and Enjoyment at Megabangna
Megabangna continues to offer customers the utmost convenience with the development of the new eight-storey parking building that provides up to 2,000 new parking spaces. Ready for the public in December 2020, the more than 1-billion-baht investment contributes to the overall parking capacity, putting the total at 12,000 parking spaces in the entire shopping centre to better accommodate more customers. Moreover, to address customer safety and heavy traffic congestion which causes air pollution and global warming from carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into the atmosphere concerns, Megabangna has funded the construction of the new U-turn bridge in the area located on Highway 34, Bangna Trad Road (Km. 7). This U-turn bridge once opened will help shorten travel time by 10 minutes and reduce fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions from heavy car usage and traffic. With the U-turn bridge addition, the quality of life for people who frequent this road and surrounding communities will be much improved.
Ms. Suwandee added, “Going beyond our car parking additions, we still continue to expand our green areas for our Megabangna community. Since the opening of the Mega FoodWalk in 2017, the beautiful architectural green valley concept promotes nature and balance at the core of the over 20,000 sq.m. semi-outdoor three-storey building structure. To give our community even more green space, we also created a relaxing atmosphere with large rock formations, streams and waterfalls with walkways designed to link with walking ease and connections to shopping centre corridors. As for our recreational park, Mega Park, the sprawling seven-Rai area provides nature’s touch with lush trees and fresh air for people in the Bangna area to enjoy. This park provides a healthy lifestyle for families and is equipped with safe playgrounds and equipment for children. The improvement of the Mega FoodWalk landscape with the new Scandinavian Playground concept, offers families a large natural playground with a stream valley and sand dunes set in a beautiful garden atmosphere, which is a rarity in the bustling city. Rather than using this area for commercial purposes, we at Megabangna chose to utilise this space for positive recreational areas that are open and free for people in our community to use.
All of the efforts and initiatives mentioned above are integral components of Megabangna Shopping Centre’s “The Great Meeting Place” strategy. Not only do we deliver the best experiences for our customers — we also are committed to doing our part to take care of the environment, both within our own area as well as the surrounding areas of our community. Every step that has been taken coincides with our sustainable business concept which drives the development more value-added customer and environmental-centric initiatives. This is an achievement we are proud of; however, we will never cease to explore new sustainability initiatives. It will continue to be a cornerstone in our business planning. Simply, if it makes sense for the environment then it makes sense for us too,” concluded Ms. Suwandee.