Green goals gaining ground

SINGAPORE has never been shy about embracing gleaming skyscrapers and glitzy glass-cased buildings, but these days, it is also focusing on the design and sustainability of buildings.

Behind the Republic’s surge in green buildings and sustainable construction are efforts by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), a national agency charged with ensuring the Republic meets its target of greening 80 per cent of its building stock by 2030.

As part of its initiative to drive Singapore’s construction towards more environment-friendly buildings, BCA launched an annual awards event to honour displays of excellence in the areas of safety, quality, sustainability and user-friendliness in buildings.

This year, a total of 318 awards across eight categories were handed out – an increase from 261 awards last year.

CapitaLand, Ascendas and the National University of Singapore were crowned champions of the Green Mark award. The orchardgateway, a new $700 million fashion mall that will stretch from 277 Orchard Road to the diagonally opposite 218 Orchard Road, has received the Platinum award.

The BCA’s flagship Green Mark certification scheme sets minimum standards for buildings on environmental factors such as energy efficiency, environmental impact, waste management and water efficiency.

BCA said the scheme provides a meaningful differentiation of buildings in the real estate market. “This can have positive effect on corporate image, leasing and resale value of buildings,” BCA added.

Builders can opt for the basic certification of their projects, or they can challenge themselves to achieve a higher rating, such as the Gold, GoldPLUS, or Platinum – the highest accolade.

The agency has also customised green mark standards for different uses, rather than applying a blanket approach to all buildings. Green schools, new parks, office interior, restaurants and overseas projects have also come under the scheme.

“As Singapore moves towards creating an inclusive-built environment, there is greater awareness among building owners and developers of the importance of a seamless and accessible-built environment for all,” BCA said.

The agency recently celebrated two milestones in Singapore’s green building journey – the 1,000th green building and 100th Green Mark Platinum building project.

Advanced technologies

BCA said while it takes time for the productivity push to yield results, it sees more companies switching to more labour-efficient processes like precast and prefabrication, and adopting advanced technologies such as Building Information Modelling to improve their construction processes.

“This comes with the need to reduce the reliance on cheap foreign labour and address the challenge of an ageing local workforce,” BCA said.

This year, more residential developments received the Construction Excellence Award (CEA). A total of 10 awards and seven certificates of merit were conferred to residential buildings this year, compared with five awards and five certificates of merit given out in 2011.

Chairman of the CEA assessment committee Lai Huen Poh said the increase is due largely to more high-quality condominiums, which is fuelled by improvements to construction standards.

The average Construction Quality Assessment System (Conquas) score for buildings in general has risen to 85.7 compared with 76.5 a decade ago.

Condominiums such as The Arte, The Orchard Residences, The Cascadia, Wilkie Studio and Marina Bay Residences have emerged top performers in the residential building category for construction excellence this year, with scores over 94.

“Besides achieving high quality, these projects also meet other criteria such as safety, sustainability, buildability, and innovativeness,” Mr Lai said.

City Developments is the developer for both The Arte and Wilkie Studio. Its director of projects, Anthony Chia, said the Conquas and quality mark scheme serve as a validation of product quality.

“These authoritative endorsements are especially important as expectations of quality excellence by homebuyers are ever-increasing,” Mr Chia said.

Local builder Woh Hup also clinched the highest number of CEA for the second consecutive year. This year, Woh Hup received three awards for its projects – The Cascadia, Marina Bay Residences and The Seafront on Meyer. All three projects attained high Conquas scores of 95.6, 94.4 and 93.0 respectively.

This brings the total number of construction excellence and merit awards Woh Hup has received so far to 34.

Other awards such as the Construction Productivity Award (CPA), Built Environment Leadership Award (BEL), and Green and Gracious Builder Award (GGBA), among others, have also been introduced in recent years.

BCA said these new awards not only recognise leading organisations, but calls for the industry to implement best practices in the various areas.

A total of 30 firms won under the CPA category this year. Kevin Wong, chairman of the CPA assessment committee, said the winners this year demonstrated that complex engineering projects or structures do not necessarily hinder construction productivity if there are proper planning, usage of new technologies and innovation of construction methods.

“This is evident in two of the Platinum winners in the Projects category – the Punggol Waterway and the Marina Sands sloping hotel structures,” he added.

Incentive schemes

BCA also announced the winners of the Design and Engineering Safety Excellence Awards. This award recognises professional engineers for developing excellent design solutions that overcame challenges, while maintaining high safety standards for their projects.

The winners for this category – professional engineers involved in Circle Line Stage 5, Flower Dome, and Cliveden at Grange projects – were picked from 16 entries by a panel of experts from the industry.

With a record number of awards given out this year, BCA said it is happy and confident that the industry will continue to raise its standards.

“While we continue to provide support through incentive schemes and other programmes, we urge firms to take the initiative to re-look the construction process and its impact on the society and environment, and continue to improve standards through innovation,” BCA said.

A charity drive has been incorporated for this year’s awards. Fund proceeds from donations will go to the beneficiaries of the President’s Challenge 2012.

BCA said the construction industry has collectively raised a total of $578,000.

BCA Green Mark for Buildings (Platinum) -Bedok Mall -CapitaGreen -Carlton City Hotel S’pore -Connexion -EduSports Building -Fusionopolis Phase 2A @ one-north -Gardens by the Bay Bay South -Holiday Inn Express S’pore Orchard Road -Hyflux Innovation Centre -Jem^TM -Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital -National Heart Centre S’pore -Yong Loo Lin School of Med -NTT Serangoon Building -orchardgateway -PARKROYAL on Pickering; and One Upper Pickering-Republic Polytechnic Expansion Project and S’pore Institute of Technology Campus Bldg -SDV Green Warehouse -Singapore Prison Service Headquarters -S’pore University of Technology and Design East Coast Campus Phase 1 Academic Facilities and Sports Complex -Sofitel So S’pore -South Beach (Commercial) -Temasek Polytechnic – South Wing Phase 1 -Training Block at BCA Academy -Bugis+ -City Square Mall -Great World Serviced Apts -Junction 8 -Jurong Port -National Institute of Education -Republic Plaza -Tampines Grande -Tong Eng Building -Treetops Executive Residences -Ardmore three -Bedok Residences -Gaia -Kent Vale ll Staff Housing Dev -Lucky Towers -S’pore University of Technology and Design East Coast Campus Phase 1 Hostels & Faculty Apartments -South Beach (Residential) -17 Second Avenue -Haus@Serangoon Garden

Source: Business Times © Singapore Press Holdings Ltd.

Posted in: Green Mark, Innovation, Technology