About Wee Hur Holdings Ltd
1980
Wee Hur was founded
The history of the Group dates back to 1980 when Mr Goh Yeow Lian, our Executive Chairman and Managing Director established ‘Wee Hur Construction Co’ with his brothers, Mr Goh Yeu Toh, Mr Goh Yeo Hwa, Mr Goh Yew Tee and brothers-in-law, Mr Sua Nam Heng and Mr Cheng Kiang Huat. The partnership company was subsequently incorporated as Wee Hur Construction Pte Ltd (“WHC”) in 1988 to cater to its growing business.
Through the years, WHC grew from strength to strength, handling construction projects of higher values and greater diversity and complexity. Completed projects include residential, institutional, industrial, office, hotel, shopping mall, religious, heritage and conservation buildings.
WHC is a BCA (Building and Construction Authority) registered contractor with A1 financial status which allows us to tender building projects of unlimited value. Our clients come from both the public and private sector.
2008
Listed on Singapore Exchange Main Board
In mid January 2008, the company underwent a restructuring exercise where Wee Hur Construction Pte Ltd became a wholly owned subsidiary of Wee Hur Holdings Ltd which was later listed on Singapore Exchange Mainboard on 30 January 2008.
2009
Ventured into Property Development
In order to enhance shareholders’ value after listing, we explored various business opportunities besides organic growth of our construction business. We decided to venture into property development as a natural progress up the value chain and obtained shareholders’ mandate in May 2009. Wee Hur Development Pte Ltd, the property development arm of the Group, was incorporated in June 2009.
We kickstarted our foray into property development with a 469-units strata titled industrial development, Harvest@Woodlands, in July 2009 through Government Land Sale (“GLS”) tender. In 2010, we secured another GLS site for a larger scale strata titled industrial development, Premier@Kaki Bukit. We have also completed a sizeable residential development, Parc Centros, which comprises 618 dwelling units in Punggol and two other boutique residential developments, Villas@Gilstead and Urban Residences
Current development for sale, Mega@Woodlands, 517-units strata titled industrial development along Woodlands Avenue 12 was completed in 2018 and Parc Botannia, 735-units strata titled condominium at Fernvale was fully sold as at 31 March 2020 based on the option to purchase issued.
On 15 January 2020, we have secured a new land parcel at Jalan Bunga Rampai which can yield an estimated 115 residential units.
2013
Ventured into Worker Dormitory
We started our first investment property in 2013 by developing a large-scale purpose-built workers’ dormitory, Tuas View Dormitory, at Tuas South Avenue One. The dormitory has the capacity to house 16,800 workers for all industries. In September 2019, we secured another new land parcel at Soon Lee Road, Jurong to develop a 10,500-bed workers’ dormitory which will house mainly construction workers.
2014
Beyond Singapore by establishing Overseas Property Development and Investment Business
In December 2014, we acquired three parcels of land totalling 1.69 hectares in Brisbane, Australia for A$56.5 million, marking the Group’s first foray into property development in Australia. These lands are located at Woolloongabba, a suburb located in Brisbane, Australia.
We have developed one of the three parcels of land (Plot 1) into Australia’s largest single-phase purpose-built student accommodation (“PBSA”) housing 1,578 beds in two buildings. Complete with ten commercial tenancies for shops and restaurants on the ground level and an expansive student communal area at the podium level. We have seeded this asset to Wee Hur PBSA Master Trust in June 2017. This PBSA, named UniLodge Park Central, was completed in 2018 and we have welcomed our first batch of residents since 2 July 2018.
Currently we are also exploring development options for Park Central – the biggest parcel (Plot 2) – for a mixed-use development comprising mainly residential units and sizable commercial spaces. The smallest parcel (Plot 3) was sold in 2020.
In end-March 2016, we have acquired a commercial office building near King George Square Station in the central business district of Brisbane. This property was sold in 2018 for a gain of $6.5 million.
2016
Embarked on a new growth platform – setting up Australia focused Purpose Built Student Accommodation Master Trust
In Dec 2016, Wee Hur PBSA Master Trust was constituted with the objective to build a portfolio of over 5,000 beds of PBSA in major cities of Australia over the next five years.
Our business model is to buy lands, develop and operate. So far, besides the seeding property in Brisbane, we have purchased another 6 parcels of land – two in Adelaide, one in Melbourne, two in Sydney and one in Canberra which will yield approximately 5,700 beds of PBSA.
Our 1st PBSA, Unilodge Park Central, commenced operations in July 2018 in Brisbane, while our 2nd PBSA, UniLodge City Gardens, commenced operations in July 2019 in Adelaide. The rest of the PBSAs are at different stages of development and are expected to be ready for occupation by 2022
2017
Set up Fund Management company
We set up Wee Hur Capital Pte Ltd as the Trust manager for Wee Hur PBSA Master Trust. We aim to develop the fund management business as another growth platform.
2020
Set up PBSA operating arm and launch of Y Suites
As part of the strategy for our PBSA business, we set up Wee Hur Hospitality Pte Ltd to develop our own brand for the operational management of PBSA assets.
Y Suites as the brand for PBSA was launched in October 2020.
All PBSA properties developed by Wee Hur will be progressively operated under Y Suites. The first property to be operating under Y Suites is Y Suites on Waymouth at 124 Waymouth Street. It is Wee Hur’s 2nd PBSA in Adelaide with 811 beds. Y Suites on Waymouth is scheduled to be operational in July 2021.
Y Suites will be partnering with Unilodge, a reputable operator of PBSA in Australia with the largest number of beds under management. Under this white-label arrangement, Y Suites is the strategic brand driver for marketing, sales and reservations while UniLodge is appointed as the property manager.
2021
Set up Wee Hur PBSA Fund II
In January 2021, Wee Hur Fund II was constituted. This is a single asset fund which undertakes the development of a land parcel at Regent Street, Sydney into approximately 400 beds of PBSA.