Ssangyong Engineering and Construction Co., which has been focusing on luxury building projects in its overseas operations, is making headway in the growing market for luxury residential properties in Malaysia.

Last week, the company announced that it won a $145 million contract to build two luxury serviced apartment buildings for the Malaysian real estate developer Damansara City Snd., less than two months after the company won a similar project in the Southeast Asian country.

Damansara City is a subsidiary of the Singapore-base developer GuocoLand, which carries out projects in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam.

Under the contract, the company will build a luxury serviced apartment complex comprising of two buildings in the Damansara Heights, a region of Kuala Lumpur that boasts one of the city’s most expensive housing markets.

The two 30-story buildings will contain 268 units that range from 111 square meters to 647 square meters.

The outer walls for the bedrooms and living rooms of each of the units will be glass, offering the residents an unrivaled view of Malaysia’s capital city, the company said.

According to the company the complex, scheduled for completion in April 2014, will also be equipped with a wide range of facilities such as a swimming pool and ballroom built to the standard of a five-star hotel.

The Damansara contract comes less than two months after Ssangyong E&C won a $127 million contract to build a similar property in central Kuala Lumpur in June.

Under the contract, issued by the Singaporean developer Wingtai Asia Group’s Malaysian subsidiary Hartamaju Sdn., Ssangyong E&C will build Le Nouvel Residence, comprised of one 43-story and one 49-story building housing 197 units, across from the Petronas Towers by August 2014.

Designed by the renowned architect Jean Nouvel, the Le Nouvel Residence’s two buildings will be linked by a bridge on the 34th floor.

While the two contracts won this year are the first serviced residences Ssangyong E&C is building in Malaysia, the portfolio of Ssangyong E&C’s projects in the Southeast Asian nation contains a diverse range of buildings.

Since the late 1980s, Ssangyong E&C has built a variety of buildings in Malaysia including the Sarawak State Mosque, a hospital and the Penggawa housing project.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)