15. ha vietcombank-tower

The Socialist Republic of Viet Nam

Independence – Freedom – Happiness

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Vietnamese – German University

TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY OF

VIETCOMBANK (VCB) TOWER IN HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM

FROM INVESTOR’S VIEW

Nguyen Thi Le Ha - UDP 2010

Real Estate and Urban Development

Prof. Dr. Karl Kluegel

July 2011

Nguyen Thi Le Ha - Technical and Economic Feasibility of Vietcombank Tower in Ho Chi Minh city.

Page 1

Content:

1. Introduction

2. Building overview

2.1. VCB Tower - Building Site

2.2. VCB Tower - Project 2005 to 2011

2.3. VCB Tower – Approval & Construction 2011-2013

3. Methodology of analysis:

3.1. VCB Tower - architecture design

3.2. VCB Tower on District 1 & general planning of HCMc

3.3. VCB Tower – economic aspect

4. Evaluation

5. References


Page 2

1. Introduction:

According to (1) CBRE’s report, Marc Townsend judged that Asian should upgrade grade of office

to adapt the demand of global tenants (2) that means bringing more qualitative building contributed,

the more attractiveness Vietnam office market gets. CBRE also mentioned in this report that net

absorption coming from grades B and C in 2011 was higher than grade A (3). So a question

appeared in my mind that there should or should not exist Vietcombank Tower (VCB Tower)

which consists of forty percent area for VCB bank office and sixty percent area for Grade A for-

rent office in 2013.

On the other hand, it took seven years since 2003 proposing VCB Tower project to 2010 approving

the project, and there were five options within five completely different perspectives to (4) VBB

choose, so another question appeared that what criteria being best to VBB choose the option

designed by (5) Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects to construct.

These questions above reached me to pick VCB Tower amongst thirty three developments in

district 1 for assignment researching technical and economic feasibility of offices in Ho Chi Minh

city, Vietnam. But because of the limited information I got, this paper may not show a full

conclusion or prediction for every criteria evaluating VCB Tower project.

Keywords: Marc Townsend, Pelli Clarke Pelli architects, VBB, Vietcombank Tower options,

Vietnam Real estate, Demand of Office for Rent, Fiscal Policies, City Planning, land value, long

term perspective, Site Area, Coverage, Construction Area, G.F.A – Gross Floor Area (within and

without basement), F.A.R – Floor Area Ratio, Share Area (Open Space, Technical Floor, Parking),

Podium, Retail.

__________________________________________

(1) CRBE: CB Richard Ellis http://www.cbrevietnam.com/loadpage.php?page=homepage (2) 4th April 2011, Vietnam Real Estate Update and Market Overview (Indigestion in the property Market –

Again) – Page 13: Global office demand mirroring VN – flight to quality with tenants taking advantage of high quality affordable space. 62% of global future supply will be in Asia (total of over 5 million sqm)

(3) 4th April 2011, Vietnam Real Estate Update and Market Overview (Indigestion in the property Market – Again) – Page 15: 2011 take-up will not exceed the record 227,000 sqm in 2010. Net absorption may equal the absorption in 2010 but most absorption will come from Grades B and C.

(4) VBB: Vietcombank - Bonday - Ben Thanh Tourist Joint-venture Co., Ltd http://www.vbb.com.vn/ (5) Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects http://www.pcparch.com/#/projects/new-work/vietcombank-tower-/

http://www.cbrevietnam.com/loadpage.php?page=homepage

http://www.vbb.com.vn/

http://www.pcparch.com/#/projects/new-work/vietcombank-tower-/


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2. Building overview:

2.1. VCB Tower – Building site:

VCB Tower is located on no. 5, Me Linh square, Dist. 1, HCM city, at the corner of streets Ton Duc Thang, Hai Ba Trung (20m), Mac Thi Buoi (20m) and Phan Van Dat (20m) that is named gold land of HCMc.

According to document no. 6804/UB-DA issued on 9th November 2004 by City People’s Committee,

land area is 3232 m2. According to document no. 3753/QHKT-KT issued on 16th December 2004,

criteria consist of: Function: high-rise building for office & commercial; Height: 35 floors & 3

basements; Coefficient of land use < 16;

Coverage ~ 67%; Step back > 4m

__________________________________________

Figure 1,2,3 edited myself with photoshop. Source:http://maps.google.com/, google search/image

http://maps.google.com/


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2.2. VCB Tower – Project 2003 to 2010:

Preparation and Legalization: 16th December 2003, HCMc. Department of Planning & Investment

(DPI) proposed to city People’s Committee a project which would be invested by Vietcombank,

Bonday Investment and Ben Thanh Tourist. 9th November 2004 City People’s Committee dispatch

document no. 6804/UB-DA requiring establishing Vietcombank (52%) – Bonday (30%) – Ben Thanh

Tourist (18%) Jointventure Co., Ltd. (VBB). 16th August 2005 HCMc. DPI provided to VBB their

land-use right certification T00349/2a. According to document no. 1033/VP-ĐT issued by City

People’s Committee, HCMc. Department of Architecture & Planning (DPA) took a response directing

VBB to enforce the project. 18th May 2006 HCMc. DPA proposed to City People’s Committee a scope

of work and all criteria to be approved by document no. 2881/VP-ĐT.

Competition and Stagnation: 19th March 2007 VBB proposed a revision for building cost from $55

million to $65-70 million and building height from 35 to 39 floors, G.F.A (Gross Floor Area) from

74,400 m2 to 76,000 m2. At the same time, VBB organized a competition and chose several options in

which they decided to choose the option designed by (6) DP Consulting Co., Ltd. as the first prize

proposing to DPA.

____________________________________

(6) DP Consulting Co., Ltd. http://www.dpconsulting-arch.com/

Figure 4,5,6: three of four options chosen by VBB. Source http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=418979

http://www.dpconsulting-arch.com/

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=418979


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Since then, VBB and DP Consulting could not push the project up because of difficult in finding sub-

contractors, so they stopped their co-operation.

_________________________________

Figure 7,8,9: DP Consulting won the competition. Source http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=418979



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2.3. VCB Tower – Approval & Construction 2011-2013:

Another Participated: With a deep experience in designing land mark building Pelli Clarke Pelli

Architects from America (PCPA) was selected as another potential partner to design VCB Tower.

Many buildings on the world were built by PCPA such as World Financial Center in New York,

Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, International Finance Centre in Hong Kong. And others financial

institutions including Citigroup (London), BankBoston (Buenos Aires), Wachovia (Winston-Salem,

N.C.), Bank of America (Charlotte, N.C.), Lehman Brothers (London), and Wells Fargo (Minneapolis,

Minn.) has designed by PCLA.

Approval & Construction 2011-2013:

According to document no. 4680/UBND-ĐTMT issued on 22th September 2010 by City People’s

Committee and 2348/SQHKT-QHKTT issued on 27th August 2010, VCB Tower was approved to get

171 meter height (206 meter to the top of lightning), corresponding to 35 floors (the roof could be 27

meter higher than the old one by DP Consulting). They approved for 67% of land can be constructed,

total floor area is 77.000 m2 and coefficient land use (F.A.R – floor area ratio) is less than 20. More

requirements are 244 lots for car parking, 100 lots for motor parking and more than 4 meter step back.

The estimate cost for contributing this 3.230 m2 site area would be approximate $96.5 million ($69

million for construction). The main function of VCB Tower is that 40% for VCB office - HCM branch

and 60% for office rental-type A. At the current time, PCPA has chosen (7) BSV Bachy Soletanche

Vietnam as sub-contractor constructing VCB Tower’s basement, (8) Euro Window as sub-contractor

finishing the façade of the building.

According to BSV, 16th April 2010 was the date BSV signing the contract with VBB as the main

contractor for basement construction packet which would be done in seventeen months. October 2010

was the date VCB tower project on construction stage.

_________________________________

(7) BSV Bachy Soletanche Vietnam: http://www.bachy-soletanche.vn/english/News.htm

(8) Euro Window: http://eurowindow.biz/en/Home/default.aspx

http://www.bachy-soletanche.vn/english/News.htm

http://eurowindow.biz/en/Home/default.aspx


Page 7

_________________________________

Figure 10, 11: PCPA’s option - overview. Source http://www.pcparch.com/#/projects/new-work/vietcombank-tower-/

Figure 12, 13: VCB construction site. Source http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=418979

http://www.pcparch.com/#/projects/new-work/vietcombank-tower-/



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3. Methodology of analysis & evaluation:

Firstly all information in this paper is collected by July 2011, so any further revision or development

for VCB tower could be changed up to date based on it. Secondly my methodology used to evaluate

five norms which consist of strong, satisfactory, function, aesthetic and economic will be followed the

formulation:

No. Article Foundation Source Compare to Result Follow

A Architecture

& Planning

Drawing

Argument

ATA Architects

Architecture Forum

Permission

Voted (%)

Meet fully (Y)/

not satisfy (N)

Table

1, 2, 4

B Economic &

Real Estate

Drawing

Research

Lecture by Professor

CBRE & others

Drawing to

research

Meet fully (Y)/

not satisfy (N)

Table

3, 5

3.1. VCB Tower - architecture design:

Vietnam and America standards permitted by People’s Committee are two sets of architectural and

technical criteria used to design the building. Other mechanic and electrical standards are followed

America, England and Canada as well.

For evaluating technical feasibility, all parameters showed on table 1 will express clearly how much

success the project could get. These parameters designed by PCPA are performed in drawing set

developed by ATA Architects that is attached below.

According to drawings, 4 meter set back from Mac Thi Buoi and Hai Ba Trung streets and 6 meter set

back from Phan Van Dat street and Melinh square are good enough as the permission asked.

Also based on drawings, a simple calculation contributed to find out total area for parking area is that

{sum area of basement 2 to 4 (3 floors)} minus {total area of stairs, elevators, corridor, and

technique rooms such as pump, septic, waste water, etc.}. So on the real area for cars, motors and

bicycle can approximately equal to 70 percent of the total area for parking area has just found because

there must be 30 percent of total area for two lanes moving vehicle and turning corners.


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The most important reason explaining why number of elevators mentioned in table 1 is the ability to

escape from the building that could answer for how smooth transportation and moving flow are.

Real area used by office is calculated in table 1 as well as parking area in order to evaluate how

effective of floor using per cost unit then.

Table 1: Designed parameters for VCB tower project and simplified calculator

Planning Data

TOTAL

Site Area 3230.00

Construction Area 2019.75

Coverage 62.53%

Open space 1210.25

Basement area per floor 3230.00

Total basement area 12920.00

Typical floor area - level 1 to 7 1996.82



Total office floor area include share area 54578.02

Total G.F.A - With Basement, open and garden area 68708.27

Total G.F.A - With Basement, without open and garden area 67498.02

Number of elevator 13

Share area (Stair, elevator, lobby & corridor,technical rooms, etc.) 450.00

Technical room (portable water on 3rd basement) 122

Office area exclude share area - level 1 to 7 1546.82



Total office area exclude share area 3467.30

Total parking area & share for vehicle 8218.00

Shared area for vehicle (=30% of total parking area) 2465.40

Area for parking 5752.60

F.A.R 20.00

_________________________________

Table 1: All parameters showed are my calculation by converting image file (ATA architects drawings) into autocad file and

using several architectural skills to get basic numbers. So these numbers can be approximate error a little bit.


Page 10

_________________________________

Figure 14, 15, 16, 17: source ATA Architects profile. Graphic editing by myself


Page 11

3.2. VCB Tower on District 1 & general planning of HCMc

Evaluating this term seems to be difficult in case of a project being constructed, so I collected arguments

from many prestigious architecture forums to see how people said about VCB tower. And the result is on

table 2 right below. More detail for environmental benefit from this building, VCB tower’s water reuse

system would be provided.

Table 2: Collection of VCB tower project through architectural forums

No. Criteria Ranking

Good Bad

1 Facade Design 1 2 3 4 5

2 General planning of District 1, HCMc. 1 2 3 4 5

3 Environmental benefit 1 2 3 4 5

3.3. VCB Tower – economic aspect

During a long process since 1997 designing to 2010 constructing, VCB tower have had many options to

choose so that the construction cost also changed from $55 million to $70 million then 96.5 million within

52% funding from VCB, 30% from Bonday and 18% from Ben Thanh Tourist.

Table 3: Estimation of VCB tower project by VBB (Vietcombank – Bonday – Ben Thanh)

No. Article Unit Prediction

1 Construction Cost $US 96.5 mil

2 Price per square meter for-rent $US 45-55

3 Time finished Date Year 2013

4. Evaluation

According to table 1 of part 3.1, a short mathematical contribution should be done as like as table 2 below.

As the last column on table 2 saying “Yes”, Vietcombank Tower must be feasible at the technical side.

_________________________________

Table 3: these numbers are taken from several Vietnam and International magazines and newspaper


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However the last point cannot be skipped in table 1 is “F.A.R = 20” - very high ratio which was not

permitted before by People’s Committee that means adding more floor into the building is not only more

benefit for investor but also high density for Melinh Square. So on this area would be changed for the long

term perspective of district 1 and HCM city.

Table 4: Compare between permitted and designed parameters for VCB tower project.

Function: 40% area belongs to VCB headquarter, 60% last is grade A office for-rent

No. Article Unit Permitted Drawing Deviation Yes/No/Na

1 Site Area m2 3,230 3,230

2 Coverage % 67 62.53 4.47 Y

3 Total floor area m2 77,000 67,498.02 9,501.98 Y

4 Number of car parking Car 224 More than

permitted

amount

2 times

Higher Y

5 Car parking area per 1 lot m2 12.5

6 Number of motor parking Motor 100

7 Motor parking area per 1 lot m2 1.44

8 Total parking area m2 2944 5752.60 2808.60 Y

9 F.A.R < 16 20 -4 N

10 Set back m > 4 4 to 6 Y

Total height m 171 Na

Table 5:

No. Article Unit

1 Office area for-rent (grade A) m2 3467.30

2 Construction cost $US 96,500,000

3 Expected rental price per m2 (lowest, highest) $US 45 55

5 Gross rental revenue at 100% occupancy $US 1872342.00 2288418.00

7 5% Vacancy Rate (to Q2/2011) $US 93617.10 114420.90

8 35% Operating cost $US 655319.70 800946.30

9 Net operating income $US 1123405.20 1373050.80

10 Break even ROR $US 0.60 0.60


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By the way calculated on table 5, after 70 years (formulation = year = 96.5 mil / net operating income)

VBB could get back their funding for this project. But there are another struggle formulation to find out

VCB tower’s IRR and NPV to evaluate economic feasibility. However they need a higher level of

information which I could not reach, so a clear conclusion for VCB economic feasibility is impossible in

this case.

Another word for VCB Tower is that it would be a huge effect to social and planning of HCM city in the

near future.

5. References

All CBRE reports

VGU project feasibility report done by World Bank

Document by People committee (Issues showed above in this paper)

Knight_Frank_HCMC_Property_Market_Q1_2011_EN-8April

HCMC Office - Property Market Brief - 1Q11 (EN) – offices by Jones Lang La Salle

Website of architecture company related to this project

15. ha vietcombank-tower

Education

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