Navigating the future: Trends, Opportunities, and Challenges in Malaysia’s Construction Market

By Mr. Leo Leow

Country Director,
Turner & Townsend

This presentation provides a data-driven overview of Malaysia’s construction industry, drawing on Turner & Townsend’s extensive industry experience and insights. It covers the current construction landscape and outlook, highlighting key trends, sector performance, tender price inflation, labour and material dynamics, and government infrastructure priorities—while addressing the market forces shaping the short to medium term outlook for industry stakeholders.

Beyond Borders: ASEAN Construction Trends, Risks and Investment Opportunities

By Mr. U-Kidd Chong

Director, Cities & Places Asia,
Turner & Townsend

This session will present key insights from Turner & Townsend’s Global Construction Market Insights 2025 (GCMI), with a focus on the ASEAN region. It will explore construction cost trends, inflation forecasts, and market dynamics in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The presentation will highlight emerging construction opportunities and challenges in the region, providing valuable insights to investors, developers and industry stakeholders.

Navigating the Data Centre Boom: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities

By Mr. Carlos Garcia Rodriguez

Data Centre Portfolio Lead Asia,
Turner & Townsend

This session will present insights from Turner & Townsend’s Data Centre Cost Index (DCCI) 2025, with a focus on trends and developments in the ASEAN region. It will explore the rising demand for data centres driven by AI and digital transformation, alongside the challenges of power constraints, labour shortages, and supply chain limitations. The session will highlight cost inflation, construction capacity pressures, and strategic considerations for future investment in Southeast Asia’s digital infrastructure landscape.

Indonesia Rising: The Next Frontier for Construction & Infrastructure

By Prof. Ir. Dr. Resdiansyah, ST., MT., Ph.D., IPM

Senior Advisor of Infrastructure and Regional Development Executive Office of the President,
Republic of Indonesia

Indonesia’s rapid development and the bold vision behind its new capital, Nusantara, signal a new era for regional infrastructure. Prof. Resdiansyah highlights key opportunities for ASEAN’s construction players, and shares insights on how sustainable, inclusive development is driving Indonesia’s rise as a construction powerhouse.

Engineering the Impossible: Support Technologies for Tunnels Beneath Sensitive Structures

By Mr. Zhu Zhengwei

Senior Engineer | Infrastructure Engineering Expert | Adjunct Faculty Mentor
Malaysia East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) Project – Chief Engineer

Tunnelling beneath sensitive structures is one of the most complex challenges in modern infrastructure development — requiring precision, innovation, and resilience. In this presentation, Mr. Zhu shares CCCC’s groundbreaking support technologies designed to ensure stability and safety in shallow-buried tunnels. Drawing from the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project, where a major station under his charge passes through a forest reserve, he will highlight how advanced engineering solutions can balance technical demands with environmental protection. This session offers a rare insight into how mega projects are “engineering the impossible” while safeguarding both communities and ecosystems.

The Digital Nexus – Integrating AI, Data and Digital Platforms

By Mr. Arthur Mun Siew Meng

Group Digital Engineering Manager,
Gamuda Engineering Sdn. Bhd.

The Digital Nexus highlights the convergence of AI, data, and digital platforms to drive transformation. AI delivers insights, data provides the foundation, and platforms enable connectivity. Their integration fuels efficiency, innovation, and resilience, creating smarter ecosystems. Success depends on governance, trust, and preparing talent for future digital convergence.

Architectural Integrity in the Age of AI: Safeguarding Creativity, Copyright, and Cultural Identity

By Ar. Saifuddin Ahmad

President,
ARCASIA

As AI reshapes how we conceptualise and produce architecture, it also challenges long-held principles around authorship, intellectual property, and cultural expression. As such, industry vigilance and leadership to ensure that innovation does not undermine the creative integrity, identity, and rights of architects across the region.

Regenerating the Future: Building Learning Ecosystems for a Sustainable World

By Mr. John Hardy

Founder,
Green School Bali

In an era of climate urgency and rapid technological change, education must evolve beyond the conventional to prepare future generations to be not just job-seekers, but changemakers. Hardy will share his insights on how to rethink learning spaces as living systems — and how the construction industry can play a pivotal role in inspiring the next generation to be guardians of the planet.

Engineering and Constructing with a Heart for Nature

By Prof. Neil Thomas MBE

Founder,
Atelier One

Through the principles of regeneration introduced by Paul Hawken, Prof Thomas, calls on all of us — designers, builders, leaders, and citizens — to place the future of life at the centre of every decision we make. Through the interconnected pillars of Equity, Reason, Protection, Sequestration, and Support, Prof. Thomas invites us to envision and enact a path forward where people and planet thrive together.

Crafting Places as Living Systems: Nature Based Solutions to Create Regenerative Urban Development

By Mr. Steven Velegrinis, LEED ND AP, AILA, PIA

Design Director,
Regional Lead Cities & Urban Design, Gensler

Climate Change is the greatest challenge facing the humanity today. Trying to resolve the causes and effects of climate change through conventional construction methodologies is like trying to fight a world champion boxer with two arms tied behind our backs. Architects, Designers and Planners need to embrace a role of designing living systems as the basis of urban development. By designing cities as a hybrid of living systems and technology, we envisage a kind of cyborg landscape that moves from ‘doing less damage’ to truly regenerating our severely degraded landscapes. Using case studies from very large to small projects we will show how we can use living systems like Bamboo Forests and Wetlands to create urban environments that heal rather than harm the earth”