Manifestation & Purpose

The trend in Cambodia in 2007 was to create residential terraced houses that were sold off plan. I hired a talented architect from London and we had 104 terraced houses on the 2.5 hectares of land. Each terraced house had three floors and a roof terrace but what we did differently was to make each floor accessible from a shared staircase with the next unit. This meant each floor became a separate apartment consisting of two bedrooms, a living room and kitchen.
When we first started marketing we sold rapidly in the first six months. We were thrilled, but then a few months later we were hit by the 2008 financial crisis. I was totally unprepared for this crisis. Our sales came to a standstill, but no matter what I kept the construction going at 20% of the workforce. As the land owner wasn’t getting any income, he took us to court. It took many years to resolve, as most cases of this magnitude do in Cambodia. In the end, the delay turned out to be a blessing. If I had sold all the units 10 years ago I wouldn’t have been able to do what I am about to do now. The whole project has now taken a life of its own. It is no longer just a residential project. With my work on SoulAdvisor parallel to my work on Angkor Grace in the last few years, Angkor Grace is now in the process of rebirthing as the biggest wellness hydro centre in Asia. Our vision is to create a destination that offers over a hundred different complementary therapies that anyone can try all in one place.

Our plan is to open the centre by middle 2023.