Living Steel's development partner for the Kolkata demonstration project

A Brief profile

The initial foray into this arena occurred in 1994, when under the aegis of Shrachi Developers, the Group successfully executed and delivered several eco-friendly, serene and prestigious residential and commercial projects like Shrachi Gardens (Dumdum), Shrachi Village (Madhyamgram), Shrachi Manor (Alipore) and Shrachi Niket (Southern Avenue), to name just a few.

Bengal Shrachi Greenwood Park community development at Rajarhat.

Bengal Shrachi Housing Development Limited completed the much-awaited Greenwood Park at Rajarhat. This mega project, which had its foundation stone laid by the Honorable Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mr. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, is set within lush greenery and boasts of all modern amenities that include landscape canal system, captive water system, community hall, shopping center, children’s park and an open-air theatre facility. The annual Greenwood Park Theatre Festival, which commenced in 2002, is another novel concept initiated by Shrachi. The objective behind this endeavor is to culturally bind people belonging to different walks of life.

Work is already on for two other mega-projects and will be ready for handover by 2006 end.. The first is the Greenwood Park Extension, which is designed by renowned architect Mr. Ajoy Chowdhury. It has three phases, namely Emerald Isle Extension (HIG phase), Palm Group Extension (MIG phase) and Purple Town Extension (LIG phase). The second mega project on the anvil is the tranquil Greenwood Nook which is ready for handover to its proud residents. Far from the maddening crowd, located on the western bank of Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, the Nook is replete with facilities like children’s play room, gym and community center, among others. With a premium on healthy living amongst a verdant environment, the HIG block (Coral Isle) utilizes innovative features like elevated landscaping to ensure a greener look to the tranquil surroundings. The MIG block (Palm Court) and LIG block (Oak Town) are all separated by stretches of greenery.

The third venture is Greenwood Sonata — designed by the internationally acclaimed Singapore-based architect Mr. Stephen Coates. With a total of seven buildings housing 498 residential apartments, spread across an area of 3.94 lakhs sq.ft., this dream project is expected to be completed by April 2008.

Additionally, Bengal Shrachi is working on Block By Block, a unique complete home solution mall at New Town, solely dedicated to homemaking accessories. The sprawling complex of Block By Block, with a contemporary international look and feel, besides bringing all aspects of the home décor industry under one roof. Besides this, Block by Block will also offer ATMs of leading banks, a multi-cuisine Food Court, ample parking space and an auditorium for conferences, among others. Work has also begun on a Rs. 300 crore mini-township in Burdwan that will have provisions for 40,000 people, government offices, a fire-brigade station, a police station, a higher secondary school and shopping malls. The township, coming up on a 257-acre land at Goda (about 5kms from the center of Burdwan) is expected to be completed by mid-2009.

Bengal Shrachi Housing Development Ltd has recently tied up with an US based development company named Rosedale Developers Pvt. Ltd. to construct a NRI city named Rosedale Garden to ease the complications and troubles faced by Bengali NRIs once they feel like coming back to their birthplace, West Bengal. The project, pegged at $1 million, designed and perfected by world class architects, interior designers and landscape artists, the apartments will be made according to international housing specifications. The apartments are designed to function for comforts that non-residential Indians are used to experiencing. It will have life style amenities and gadgets integrated within its space. Every apartment will have broadband and modern telecommunication facilities. The entire complex has access to purified water from centralized purification plant, hi-tech fire protection system and security systems. It will also offer well qualified team of paramedics, doctors and nurses for its residents.

Another project on the anvil, Synthesis Park, is all set to be a landmark in contemporary Indian architecture. A true representation of the evolution of Kolkata as one of the modern cities of Asia, Synthesis Park will meet the highest standards of ‘Green Design’ by combining the usage of modern materials with energy saving systems to emerge as an environment-friendly ‘smart building’. Besides these, a Rs. 100 crore project has been planned that will see a giant tower — Neo-city (ground + 17 high-rise blocks) coming up on the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar highway. The first phase of this three-phase project is expected to be ready by mid-2007.

Living Steel, a global program managed by the International Iron and Steel Institute has recently signed a MoU with Bengal Shrachi. The MoU which was signed in March, outlines the partnership between Living Steel and Bengal Shrachi to demonstrate sustainable steel housing for India. The houses will be constructed in India and Poland based on the winning entries selected from the international architectural competition sponsored by Living Steel in association with international architectural competition sponsored by Living Steel in association with International Union of Architects. And in India, the city chosen is Kolkata and the construction will come up in Newtown which is currently the silicon hub of Kolkata. Ten architectural firms all around the world are preparing their designs for the Kolkata project. They were judged in May this year by an international jury. The member companies of Living Steel include Arcelor, Baosteel, Bluescope Steel, Mittal Steel, POSCO and TATA Steel. In his address of the Living Steel project, the Programme Director Scott Chubbs stated, “We are very excited to work with Bengal Shrachi to share knowledge and showcase sustainable steel houses for the Indian Home Buyer and our agreement is a testimony of this fact. This MoU represents an important step in our efforts to show the versatility and strength of steel in meeting housing needs around the world”.

Bengal Shrachi has always believed in making its technical and managerial expertise available to those at the grassroots level. By announcing real estate projects in smaller towns, it aims to avoid the congestion of the urban metropolis on one hand, while extending to the Indian population living in smaller towns the dual benefit of planned development with a marked improvement in lifestyle.

Bengal Shrachi is also associated with some very prestigious projects coming up in Kolkata. The Globsyn Crystals project in association with the Surekha Group and Mr. Bikram Dasgupta, will be coming up in Salt Lake, Sector V-Kolkata’s IT hub- is conceived as an environment friendly specifically designed and equipped to muzzle the bogey called attrition which is causing so much disruption in the knowledge industry. Another prime project that Bengal Shrachi is associated with is the South City project. Planned and developed by the most respected names in real estate, South City is an integrated development. With soaring residential towers, a modern school, a shopping mall with entertainment zones and multiplex, a sprawling club and acres of lush greenery. South City with its Four 35 storey residential towers, offers a revolutionary perspective on life. Recently Bengal Shrachi got associated with the Akshara and Tirupati Group for their forth coming projects. The Akshara Group have undertaken various residential and commercial projects in and around Kolkata, namely Sreekunj at Alipore, Pretoria manor at Pretoria Street, Akshara residency at Nakuleshwar Bhattacharjee Street, Akshara Willow at N.S.C Bose Road. The Tirupati Group is engaged in various businesses like Real Estate, Infrastructure Development & Industrial Products Marketing.

The vision of BSHDL is not limited merely to providing shelter for the economically weaker sections of the society and achieving milestones in architectural feats by building monumental edifices and landmarks of engineering, but also to prosper and progress without sacrificing the basic values of life. The company believes in attaining sustainable development to provide a lasting contribution towards a healthy, happy and wholesome quality of life for the masses and classes alike. With more than 10 projects in the pipeline, and an estimated realizable value exceeding Rs 6300 million, the Bengal Shrachi is all set to spread its operations outside of West Bengal and become one of the leading real estate players of the country.