KUALA LUMPUR, 1 April 2010 - The Sime Darby Group through its property arm, Sime Darby Property Berhad (SDP) created a milestone in its journey towards carbon neutrality when it signed technical collaboration agreement with some of the world's leading green technology and solution providers for its Sime Darby Idea House project this afternoon.

The Sime Darby Idea House is a carbon-neutral concept dwelling to demonstrate how sustainable housing can be developed to minimise mankind's impact on the environmental and depleting natural resources. The Sime Darby Idea House is set to be a benchmark in sustainable design that will create Southeast Asia's first carbon-neutral residence.

At the signing ceremony which was held at the Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club in Bukit Kiara, Sime Darby Property was represented by its Managing Director, Dato' Tunku Putra Badlishah, while other partners to the signing include Cisco, Mesiniaga, Shimizu, Home Research Pte Ltd, MEGAMAN Electronic & Lighting Sdn Bhd, Hunter Douglas (M) Sdn Bhd, Saint-Gobain Construction Products (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd, Myhomepalm Integrated Sdn Bhd, Nippon-Paint (M) Sdn Bhd, MyZwood Sdn Bhd, Hewlett-Packard (M) Sdn. Bhd, SmartPools Sdn Bhd, Thinkscape Group, Jardine Engineering (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Jurusanwa Enterprise Sdn Bhd, W.Atelier Sdn Bhd and Melco Sales (M) Sdn Bhd.

The collaboration brings together some of the best innovations, solutions and technologies available from these companies in their respective field to improve energy efficiency in homes and reduce the consumption of limited resources.

Dato' Seri Ahmad Zubir Murshid, Group Chief Executive and President of Sime Darby Berhad said that all the divisions under the Sime Darby Group have been tasked to pursue the sustainable agenda within their respective operations in line with the company's tagline of 'Developing Sustainable Futures'. I am pleased to note that Sime Darby Property is supporting this initiative through the Idea House project. Sime Darby also has an internal commitment to reduce GHG ( Green House Gases ) emissions by 20% by 2015. This is also a support of the Government's quest to reduce 40% of GHG emissions by year 2020 and to adopt sustainable technologies and practices that will benefit the country and society at large, added Dato' Seri Ahmad Zubir.

Commenting on the collaboration, Sime Darby Property Berhad Managing Director, Dato' Tunku Putra Badlishah said, We are pleased to be working with like-minded partners in pursuing the sustainability agenda and we hope that the collaboration for the Sime Darby Idea House project will be the catalyst to develop technology and products that will benefit customers and the industry and further drive the transformation towards creating eco-friendly living, said Dato' Tunku Putra Badlishah.

The first-of-its-kind in South East Asia, the Sime Darby Idea House was conceived as a test bed for new ideas in sustainable architecture, from which we hope to incorporate the learning and technologies from this house into future development in our townships as part of our commitment to build sustainable communities, added Dato' Tunku Putra Badlishah.

The Sime Darby Idea House is one of the two pilot projects for Green Building Index (GBI) certification in the residential category. GBI is very pleased to be associated with Sime Darby and we fully support its Idea House project. We hope that more property developers will emulate this and take the cue to innovate and develop the vast green opportunities in green building, said Dr. Tan Loke Mun, Chairman of the LAM/PAM Green Building & Sustainable Committee.

Meanwhile, Anne Abraham, Managing Director, Cisco Systems (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd said, Cisco is honored to work with Sime Darby Property to transform the way cities and communities are developed, achieving economic, social and environmental sustainability and changing the way people work, live, play and learn in Malaysia.

Much credit goes to Sime Darby Property for leadership in developing next generation living experiences. Mesiniaga is pleased to play a key role in implementing Cisco's Smart & Connected Communities technologies for Sime Darby's Idea House. The benefits will take the shape of enhanced security, better energy and resource management, and a variety of community services that were once the realm of science fiction, said Fathil Ismail, Mesiniaga's Managing Director who was also present at the signing ceremony.

Some of the green building technologies that will be incorporated into the Sime Darby Idea House are 100% recyclable roof system, rainwater harvesting system, FSC certified timber products, certified energy efficient appliances, CFL and LED lighting system, environmentally-friendly light bulbs, solar panels, 100% recyclable kitchen cabinets, among others.

The Sime Darby Idea House is indeed a fully-adaptable dwelling. Taking into consideration the needs of Malaysian demographic and the expansion and contraction of the family nucleus, the Sime Darby Idea House has been designed with void spaces that can be filled to create further living or sleeping spaces as the family expands, or can be removed in the future as the children grow up and leave home. Open plan living allows for a more flexible lifestyle, promoting internal / external adaptation of spaces to be changed to suit the families live / work / play requirements. Such social and environmental responses also contribute to the buildings economic efficiency. By using Modern Methods of Construction (prefabrication and modularization), it enables a speedier construction process, saving time and therefore financial / resource burden. The promotion of clean renewable energies in the scheme also mitigates the reliance on artificial or mechanical means of lighting and cooling, thus saving on energy bills.

Although still under construction, the Sime Darby Idea House is already a highly commended winner in the Environmental Category in the Cityscape Awards 2009 in Dubai. It is hoped that the collaboration between the partners will forge the creation of what will be a benchmark in sustainable design and a precedent for Malaysian lifestyle living for the 21st century.