Chennai suburbs warm up to gated community lifestyleLower

A gated community is marked by certain parameters, including a single compound wall for the whole project and the absence of compound walls between houses. Besides, various recreational facilities and essential amenities are also made available to residents living in that project. 

Ajit Chordia, the Managing Director, Olympia, and immediate past President of Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India’s (CREDAI), Chennai says, “A gated community would be a villa project with guarded entry and exit with peripheral walls. Villas might not have front compound walls and the sides would be bio-fenced. Common spaces in such areas include gardens, club houses, schools etc.” 

“We have few such projects being developed in Chennai as the metro is only beginning to get used to such lifestyles. Gated communities require an expansive stretch of land in order to include all sorts of amenities,” he adds. 

Chordia points out that areas, including OMR, ECR, Poonamallee, Oragadam and Outer Ring Road (ORR) would be prospective belts where such projects can come up in the future. D Pratish, Managing Director, VGN Developers (P) Ltd, says gated communities could generally be developed on larger stretches of land in the city, and the life cycle of such projects would be longer as more inventories are involved. 

“Rapid development of infrastructure and better connectivity can certainly go a long way in making such properties popular. We have delivered a few projects of this kind with around 1,000 dwelling units each,” Pratish explains. “Once a gated community comes up in a region, one can also expect the economy in the surrounding areas to develop,” he said. Chordia remarks that to have more gated community projects in Chennai, the land price needs to come down and drinking water facility should be provided. 

“Bengaluru has opened up to this type of lifestyle and has dozens of gated villa community projects spread over hundreds of acres. In five or six years, Chennai too could have more such projects,” he added.