Singapore ranks 10th most expensive City for construction

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– Hong Kong is most expensive city in Asia for construction

– Ho Chi Minh City, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Bangalore and Taipei among world’s cheapest cities for construction

Hong Kong is the most expensive Asian city to build in, followed by Macau and Singapore according to the International Construction Costs Index published today by Arcadis, the leading global Design & Consultancy firm for natural and built assets. Hong Kong trails behind New York and London, the top two most expensive cities in the global ranking.

The annual Arcadis index, which analyzes the relative cost of construction across 44 major cities, finds that strong currency performance and significant resource constraints have seen these ‘world city’ locations command premiums of up to 60 percent compared with many European locations.

However, this price inflation comes at a cost, with the viability of important commercial and public sector schemes put at risk in these cities as prices continue to soar. Furthermore, rising costs and the falling value of currencies could restrict demand from emerging market investors in these areas, potentially triggering a shift in interest to lower-cost cities in the long term.

Meanwhile, throughout 2015, every construction market worldwide saw overall cost inflation restricted due to the drop in commodity prices. Particularly with oil, growing uncertainty over prices will have a long-term impact on the global construction industry.

Alan Hearn, Head of Buildings Solutions, Asia, commented: “When it comes to development, the world’s major financial centers have always commanded a substantial premium. However, the sheer scale of demand-driven price increases this year in the likes of New York, London and Hong Kong has been remarkable. Add to this the recent global currency shifts and it is plain to see why building in these locations can cost up to sixty percent more than many European cities. The problem is that rapid inflation may soon see investors and even public sector bodies shut out as prices continue to spiral.”

ranking in Arcadis’ International Construction Cost Index are below:

Asia Ranking Global Ranking Market
1 3 Hong Kong
2 5 Macau
3 10 Singapore
4 19 Tokyo
5 20 Seoul
6 27 Shanghai
7 29 Brunei
8 30 Manila
9 35 Jakarta
10 40 Ho Chi Minh City
11 41 Kuala Lumpur
12 42 Bangkok
13 43 Bangalore
14 44 Taipei

Alan Hearn continued: “Singapore’s construction market has enjoyed a strong recovery since 2010. It is for this reason that the recent slowdown in residential and commercial markets represents something of a correction. In the private sector, both the residential and industrial sectors were relatively weak in 2015 and the office market also suffered due to oversupply.

Looking ahead, continued investment in road and rail can be anticipated as these aspects of infrastructure have not received as much investment in recent years in Singapore. For Asia, China’s economic slowdown and weakening demand in many cities, including Singapore and Jakarta, mean that growth in the region is expected to ease as we enter 2016.”

The full report can be downloaded here: arcad.is/ICC2015 

 

Broadway Malyan wins project for Nexus campus

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nexusartBroadway Malyan has won the commission to design a new international school in the heart of Singapore for one of Asia’s largest education organisations.

The architecture, design and urbanism practice was selected to design the new Nexus International School (Singapore) campus along the Pan Island Expressway, the main arterial route between Changi Airport, the island’s Downtown Core and the planned Jurong district in west Singapore.

Broadway Malyan director Harry Hoodless, who has been involved in developing international schools across Asia, said the facility will set new benchmarks for sustainability and innovation. He said: “This is an incredibly exciting project for Broadway Malyan where we have the opportunity to create what will not only be a major landmark in Singapore but will help develop the template for the school of the future. Singapore already boasts a reputation for educational excellence and Nexus’s vision is to create a campus that will be Singapore’s flagship learning environment for the next generation and help secure its position as the region’s leader for innovation and technology.”

“The new campus design will be unique in terms of its response to environmental context and we believe it exemplifies our forward thinking approach to education space, while also embracing the needs of the local community. Broadway Malyan has been involved in the wider Smart City agenda, particularly in Singapore and Malaysia, and we looked at visions for our cities of the future and miniaturised them to help design this school. The result is a project that will be ecologically and socio-culturally in tune with its surroundings and technically meets the needs of an evolving economy.”He added.

Facilities at the 2,000 student campus – which will also be open to the local community outside school hours and at weekends – will include a 50m indoor pool, a full size astro-turf sports field, recording studios, a library, auditorium, two sports halls as well as a raft of flexible learning spaces.

At the heart of the campus and in keeping with the philosophy of the new development will be the Innovation Hub. Through collaboration with the leading minds in their fields, it will be a showcase space dedicated to the development of new pedagogic ideas. A range of initiatives will work towards a design ambition of ‘zero waste, zero water, zero energy’ with technologies that will see the pool heated through waste heat from learning spaces, smart shading operated by sunlight sensors and rainwater management enhanced to deal with local climatic conditions.

Escalator safety during the holiday shopping season

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With the right preparation, facility managers can rest easy this season by significantly reducing the risk of incidents around their elevator and escalator equipment.

With the right preparation, facility managers can rest easy this season by significantly reducing the risk of incidents around their elevator and escalator equipment.

By Matthew A. Pike

The holiday shopping season is here, and with it are holiday shoppers flocking to department stores and malls to cash in on the year’s biggest sales. Although gift ideas and savings are on everyone’s mind, the increase in foot traffic in malls and stores raises safety concerns for facility managers around the use of vertical transportation. Escalator safety is one of these areas of concern.

However, with the right preparation, facility managers can rest easy this season by significantly reducing the risk of incidents around their elevator and escalator equipment.

Confirm the shopping environment is prepared for heavy traffic.

Aside from assessing vertical transportation and identifying any potential issues that may arise in advance of a heavy traffic shopping season, it’s important to make sure the area around the equipment is suited to handle the increase in traffic.

Create and post new signage in advance of the shopping season, which will help deter bad behavior around elevators and escalators. Signs should include directions to the elevator and encourage families with small children and the elderly to use the elevators.

Finally, it’s important to not place any displays, especially those that particularly attract children, around elevators or escalators. Not only will this create congestion in the area and potential tripping hazards, but it could also be unsafe for children who might be inclined to play on the equipment.

Ensure employees are properly trained. An important step in keeping visitors safe during the shopping season is stationing employees of your facility near vertical transportation. While signage will help guide many visitors, it’s the physical employees who will enforce the rules and further discourage bad behavior around elevators and escalators.

Before the doors open on heavy traffic days, make sure employees know what to look for throughout their shift, and who should be directed toward the elevators. For example, children playing around equipment or elderly visitors who might have a difficult time navigating the equipment are better suited to use the elevator. Another consideration is to direct visitors who have several bags, a cart or carriage for children away from the escalator, as these items should always go on the elevator with patrons

Prevent visitors from using out-of-service escalators. An escalator shutdown during shopping season can be frustrating for visitors. If your escalator experiences issues during the heavy-traffic season, be sure to barricade it immediately. This can prevent two potential incidents. First, trips and falls are more likely on non-moving escalators being used as stairs, as the step risers are significantly different from regular stairs. Secondly, although the brake is designed to hold more than the equipment’s weight in the event of a shutdown, it is not meant to bear the dead weight of consistent foot traffic. Instead, the brake functions only to hold the step band in place. Once your escalator is barricaded, call your service provider right away to decrease your equipment’s downtime during the busy shopping season.

Shopping season is an important time for retail stores everywhere, when millions of consumers stop in to check a few items off their holiday gift lists. While foot-traffic seems like a difficult task to manage during this time, it can be done simply with a little preparation and planning from facility managers.

Pike is manager of customer based risk management for KONE. In this role, he helps develop and implement new programs aimed at addressing safety within vertical transportation equipment, which includes hands-on work with some of KONE’s largest customers across North America. This article was first published in Facility Executive.

Autodesk announces new cloud-based service for early 2016

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Autodesk BIM 360 Docs will help to save time, reduce risk and errors in construction projects.

Autodesk BIM 360 Docs will help to save time, reduce risk and errors in construction projects.

At its flagship annual user event Autodesk University, Autodesk, Inc. announced Autodesk BIM 360 Docs, a comprehensive, cloud-based service for the construction industry that provides a virtual workspace to create, access, maintain, mark-up and share 2D and 3D project documents, plans and models.

Up to 25 percent of construction is rework, and approximately 10 percent of materials are wasted, according to the 2013 industry report by Autodesk, “Making the Grade.” Much of this waste can be attributed to the error-prone process of managing hundreds to thousands of project documents. Today, the construction industry must contend with a tangled web of multiple document management solution providers, contributing to significant inefficiencies and risks on construction project sites.

Formerly known as Project Alexandria, Autodesk BIM 360 Docs will help to save time, reduce risk and errors in construction projects. BIM 360 Docs is designed to ensure that the entire project team is building from the correct version of documents and plans.

“Autodesk is delivering a new world order for construction management,” said Amar Hanspal, senior vice president, Products at Autodesk. “A comprehensive solution is long overdue, and the delay has cost the construction trades too much money and too much time. Autodesk saw the challenge, owns the expertise, and is delivering a powerful step forward for the industry.”

Autodesk BIM 360 Docs connects construction project team members through collaborative, real-time access to construction documents throughout the project lifecycle. Planned capabilities include:

  • Linked 3D and 2D experience, allowing users to interact with models in 2D views and visualise them in 3D on the same page, and vice-versa
  • Permission-based access control and approval processes to manage the updating and release of documents, preventing project teams from working from out-of-date information
  • Blazing-fast viewing experience for large-format PDF design documents, optimized for Apple iOS devices; and
  • Automated organisation of original and updated construction docs into sets, including highly accurate and customised optical character recognition (OCR) of title blocks.

Industry leaders from designers to general contractors and from engineers to owners/operators tested and provided feedback to the Autodesk BIM 360 team throughout the product’s development.

“Document management has historically posed a significant challenge for much of the construction industry, yet many still rely on a cobbled-together web of one-off solutions, which isn’t really a solution at all,” said Jason Reece, technology and innovation improvement lead at Balfour Beatty Construction. “We’ve collaborated with Autodesk throughout the development process and based on what we’ve seen so far, BIM 360 Docs is on the right track to offering the industry an integrated technology solution for this generations-old problem.”

Autodesk is now accepting reservations for a limited release and free preview version of Autodesk BIM 360 Docs at www.bim360.com/docs. The product is expected to come to market in early 2016. In addition to the free, limited version of BIM 360 Docs, Autodesk will offer the option to subscribe to additional capabilities that scale to meet more advanced needs of construction firms. The product will initially be available in English only.

APB paves way for clean energy adoption in Singapore

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Leading the charge for sustainable business practices here, Asia Pacific Breweries Singapore (APBS) and Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) have announced recently, a landmark partnership that will see the home-grown brewery make the leap towards solar energy.

In a pioneering Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) inked with REC, the leading global provider of solar energy solutions, clean energy will be provided for APBS’ facilities. This agreement will see REC’s award-winning, high-performance TwinPeak panels mounted across three rooftops at APBS, making it the largest rooftop solar installation for HEINEKEN globally. APBS is a HEINEKEN operating company.

At 2.196 megawatt peak (MWp), this solar installation is approximately four times the size of typical. This collaboration represents HEINEKEN’s first solar installation project in the Asia Pacific region and also its largest rooftop installation worldwide. It is also one of REC’s biggest carbon-saving initiatives to date.

Scheduled to run for the next 25 years, this PPA will see APBS generate approximately 2.3 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of clean energy annually, enough power to meet the annual power consumption of 600 four-room HDB households here. Generated through 8,038 REC solar panels that are made in Singapore and spanning an area equivalent to three FIFA football fields in size, the resulting renewable energy helps APBS mitigate 1,500 tonnes of carbon emissions annually, reducing its carbon footprint by approximately 20 percent.

As a socially-responsible business, reducing carbon emissions, protecting water resources and advocating the responsible consumption of alcohol form key pillars that drive APBS’ corporate sustainability strategy towards Brewing a Better World – its long term approach to create shared and sustainable value for its stakeholders and community that it operates in.

“At APBS, sustainability is very much a business imperative. This launch is a milestone in our journey towards Brewing a Better World, and through our PPA with REC, places us at the forefront of for the future adoption of clean energy initiatives within the various commercial industries,” said Kenneth Choo, Managing Director, HEINEKEN Asia Pacific.

A ‘Brewed by the Sun’ icon (left) will be introduced to Tiger Beer’s packaging in due time.

A ‘Brewed by the Sun’ icon (left) will be introduced to Tiger Beer’s packaging in due time.

Set at the home of the iconic Tiger Beer, this initiative will also mean that every Tiger Beer consumed in Singapore will be ‘Brewed by the ‘Sun’. A ‘Brewed by the Sun’ icon (left) will be introduced to Tiger Beer’s packaging in due time. The renewable energy generated through this initiative dovetails APBS’ sustainability efforts with our nation’s newly outlined environmental targets announced in July, ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference set for end November.

“The PPA model will change the way businesses view renewable energy. Through this model, REC absorbs the investment and maintenance costs of installing solar systems on rooftops. Building owners need only pay for the consumed solar energy generated from their roofs at an agreed rate, which is fixed for the next 25 years,” said Steve O’Neil, Chief Executive Officer, REC.

T.Y.Lin bags top honours for VTVCH restoration works

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The firm received top honours for its role in restoring the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall. Image courtesy of T.Y. Lin Internatinoal.

The firm received top honours for its role in restoring the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall. Image courtesy of T.Y. Lin Internatinoal.

T.Y. Lin International Pte Ltd (TYLI) received the 2015 Structural Award (Structural Heritage Category) of The Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) for their role in the restoration of Victoria Theatre and Victoria Concert Hall (VTVCH). Dr. Tan Guan, TYLI’s Director of Building Structures, Qualified Person (QP) and Project Manager for the project accepted the award at the recent 2015 Structural Awards ceremony held on 13th November 2015 in London.

Judges from the Structural Awards 2015 called the restoration project a “bold structural undertaking,” and noted that “the structural work was carried out with sensitivity and great care for the historical features, further enhancing the building.” They were impressed with the structural interventions of the project in restoring an intricate 150-year-old concert hall and upgrading it to modern times. The 2015 judging panel was comprised of some of the industry’s finest and their collective knowledge spans a variety of disciplines including academia, architecture, construction, sustainability, innovation and research.

TYLI provided civil, structural, mechanical and electrical engineering services for the restoration of VTVCH. The structural challenges managed by TYLI included: reinforcing and strengthening the Theatre’s footings and foundations, to create two new underground basements; replace the Concert Hall’s timber floor with a concrete surface, to achieve the acoustic requirements of a 21st century performing arts venue; removal of the non-original columns from the foyer to create an open, welcoming space.

Further, a key element of the works was the restoration of the façade walls, which had deteriorated over time. The beams were exposed for structural strengthening with steel plates and the application of protective coatings. A new steel beam was installed where no lintel beam was provided.

The facade wall at the loading bay area was also strengthened by the installation of new steel beams and columns to allow the door openings to be enlarged for direct access to the new service lifts. In providing access for irregular shaped and large objects, the access at the loading bay area was enlarged and new service lifts were constructed.

In ensuring the safety and the preservation of the conserved structures & façade walls, TYLI stipulated several measures for the construction phase including: acontrolled demolition methodology and work sequence that was carefully planned, controlled pilling workforthe basement construction and extensive monitoring to manage any potential displacements of the conserved structures during the basement excavation, underpinning and construction.

Dr. Tan Guan, commented, “We are honoured to receive such a prestigious international award and to have our work recognised by international industry experts is extremely rewarding.” He continued, “Delivering the project was challenging, working in conjunction with the National Arts Council (NAC), we developed a preservation scheme to overcome many structural challenges while protecting the integrity of the sensitive structure.

For more information, visit www.tylin.com

ULI, PwC survey ranks Singapore as fair for investment, development prospects

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Emerging Trends in Real Estate® Asia Pacific 2016, a real estate forecast is jointly published by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and PwC.

Emerging Trends in Real Estate® Asia Pacific 2016, a real estate forecast is jointly published by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and PwC.

Real estate activity in Asia next year will reflect a continuation of trends seen in 2015 – an abundance of capital flowing to core space, as well as a flight to safe havens in the region’s most developed and liquid markets, according to Emerging Trends in Real Estate® Asia Pacific 2016, a real estate forecast jointly published by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and PwC. Japan and Australia remain the favorite countries for investment and development, with Tokyo, Sydney, Melbourne and Osaka taking four of the top five spots for promising markets in the Asia Pacific region. Ho Chi Minh City, rated fifth, rounds out the list of most favored markets.

“Asia’s real estate markets are the product of almost eight years of easy money from the world’s central banks. Although easing in the U.S. may be ending, both Japan and the European Union continue to provide liquidity, while interest rates in many Asian countries are lower than one year ago,” said ULI North Asia Chairman Raymond Chow, Executive Director, Hongkong Land Limited in Hong Kong. “

Emerging Trends, released during ULI Singapore’s 2015 Annual Meeting, provides an outlook on Asia Pacific real estate investment and development trends, real estate finance and capital markets, and trends by property sector and metropolitan area. It is based on the opinions of 343 internationally renowned real estate professionals, including investors, developers, property company representatives, lenders, brokers and consultants.

Survey respondents ranked Singapore eleventh for investment prospects and ninth for development, placing the city in the middle of the list of the 22 markets covered by the report. It attributes Singapore’s rating to the market’s loss of traction in 2015 following a surge in commercial rents in 2014. The report notes that businesses in the city are having problems expanding due to a tight labour market and ongoing restrictions on hiring foreign staff.

In addition, it points to a slow residential market, mainly due to government actions in 2013 to stem soaring home prices. Still, despite the tepid enthusiasm, “Singapore is always a market where institutions are looking to buy,” says Emerging Trends, adding that a number of major property purchases are expected to be complete before the end of 2015.

Click HERE to read more about the top five markets for 2016 plus other findings.

Singapore receives top regional accolades at AFEO

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The annual awards pay tribute to engineering achievements that have demonstrated outstanding engineering skills and made significant contributions.

The annual awards pay tribute to engineering achievements that have demonstrated outstanding engineering skills and made significant contributions.

For the first time for Singapore, a total of five engineering projects across multiple industries clinched the prestigious ASEAN Outstanding Engineering Achievement Awards 2015 presented at the Conference of the ASEAN Federation of Engineering Organisations (CAFEO) held in Penang on 25 November 2015.

Presented by AFEO, the annual awards pay tribute to engineering achievements that have demonstrated outstanding engineering skills and made significant contributions to the engineering progress and the quality of life in ASEAN. All winning projects from Singapore this year had been selected by IES for this award from amongst the IES Prestigious Engineering Achievement Awards 2015 recipients.

“IES is proud of our local engineering teams for bringing honour not only to themselves, but to the Singapore engineering fraternity. The winning of five awards adds jubilation to Singapore’s 50th birthday and recognises the remarkable engineering work being conducted in Singapore,” said Er. Chong Kee Sen, President of IES, who led a 33-member contingent to represent Singapore at CAFEO.

The five winning projects are:

  • Speak to Me in My Language by A*STAR, Institute for Infocomm Research
  • Towards Better Living and Greater Sustainability through “Smart Planning”- Urban Environmental Modelling (UEM) by Building Research Institute, Housing & Development Board
  • Jurong Rock Caverns by JTC Corporation
  • Innovative Hybrid Membrane Dehumidifier (MD)-Indirect Evaporative Cooling (IEC) System For All-Weather Air-conditioning Without Compressors by National University of Singapore & King Abdullah University of Science & Technology
  • Samwoh Eco-Green Building – First Building in the Region Constructed Using Up to 100 percet of recycled concrete aggregate by Samwoh Corporation Pte Ltd

The event also saw the conferring of the AFEO Honorary Fellowship title upon five eminent persons from Singapore, in recognition of their outstanding services, greatness of spirit, integrity and devotion to the engineering profession, IES and Singapore. They are:

  • Prof. CHEONG Hee Kiat, President, SIM University, Singapore
  • Mr. Brian CHANG, Chairman, Blue Capital Pte Ltd
  • Er. ONG See Ho, Deputy Chief Executive Officer (Building Control), Building and Construction Authority
  • Er. NG Say Cheong, Director (Upgrading Construction Management), Building Quality Group, Housing & Development Board
  • Er. TANG Kin Fei, Group President & CEO, Sembcorp Industries Ltd

IES represented Singapore at the 33rd Conference of the CAFEO held in Penang from 23 to 26 November 2015. Since 1982, the annual CAFEO has been hosted with rotation by 10 ASEAN member countries including Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar.

The end of the line for Category 5e cabling?

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The ISO/IEC standards body recently decided to upgrade the minimum cabling infrastructure requirement for offices, effectively marking the obsolescence of Category 5e by defining a minimum of Category 6, and recommending Category 6A. This is a brief overview of the drivers behind this development, and the implications to your cabling infrastructure decisions.

Startup Stock Photos

As the bandwidth requirements for wired and wireless applications continue to grow, a recent decision by the ISO/IEC cabling standards body that defines cabling infrastructure requirements is expected to have a significant impact on the choice of horizontal cabling in offices. For the first time in almost 20 years, the standards body has decided to upgrade the horizontal cabling in offices from a minimum of Class D (Category 5e) to a minimum of Class E (Category 6), and to recommend Class EA (Category 6A), for new installations.

Drivers behind the decision to upgrade the minimum requirement

A number of factors were taken into account to define the new minimum requirement, including:

1.  Market dynamics A majority of customers are already choosing the higher categories. The standards body reviewed recent market data which indicates that shipments of Category 5e have been steadily declining since 2004. The 2014 installed base was estimated to include Category 5e at 26%, Category 6 at 56%, Category 6A at 17%, and Category 7 at 1%.

2. The emergence of new application drivers Wireless requirements, paradoxically, were identified as the first technology driver for higher bandwidth. IEEE 802.11ac WiFi access points are expected to require backhaul bandwidth in excess of 1 Gbps, prompting the formation of the IEEE P802.3bz™ 2.5/5GBASE-T Task Force. While the intent is to support 2.5 Gbps and 5 Gbps Ethernet over the installed base of Category 5e and Category 6 cabling, the lack of alien crosstalk specifications limits support to a subset of installed configurations, and mitigation steps may require component replacements in some cases.

3. The expected life of cabling Cabling installations are expected to have a useful life in excess of ten years, with twenty years being a common expectation. With this in mind, and considering the market dynamics as well as the emergence of technologies with requirements beyond those specified for Category 5e, the committee decided it was time to upgrade the minimum requirement for offices. The selection of Category 6 as the minimum reflects the fact that it is better suited than Category 5e to support 2.5 and 5 Gbps, while the recommendation for Category 6A takes into account the fact that applications beyond 1 Gbps will require alien crosstalk specifications.

Category 6A is recommended for all horizontal cabling since it provides the required performance to support these faster speeds up to 10 Gbps.

iStock_000009430552_SmallDoes this mean you need to upgrade your existing Category 5e cabling infrastructure?

Fortunately, significant industry efforts are being made to enable migration to 802.11ac Wireless Access Points by supporting up to 2.5 Gbps (and even up to 5 Gbps) over the large installed base of Category 5e. Although 2.5 or 5 Gbps may not be guaranteed for all installation configurations, standards bodies are developing qualification and mitigation procedures to maximize the chances to re-use the existing infrastructure.

Should you install Category 6, or Category 6A cabling in office environments? 

Once the new standard is published, Category 6 will be the minimum required for compliance. However, the standard will recommend Category 6A to support applications with alien crosstalk requirements (meaning applications beyond 1 Gbps). While initial deployments of 2.5 and 5 Gbps are targeted at WiFi access points, industry analysts predict a gradual phasing out of 1 Gbps technology in favor of the faster speeds, as the technology becomes mainstream and prices decline.  Category 6A is recommended for all horizontal cabling since it provides the required performance to support these faster speeds up to 10 Gbps. When do we expect the new standard to be published?

The standards development process can be slow at times, and it can be subject to technical and logistical delays. Based on current timelines, it is expected that the standard will be published in early 2017. This standards upgrade effectively marks the obsolescence of Category 5e and positions Category 6A as the optimal horizontal medium for new office installations, and the foundation for connected and efficient buildings.

This post is brought to you by CommScope. 

KONE opens one of world’s tallest elevator test towers

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The Kunshan test tower is the tallest among KONE's eight global testing facilities.

The Kunshan test tower is the tallest among KONE’s eight global testing facilities.

KONE, one of the global leaders in the elevator and escalator industry, recently celebrated the opening of one of the world’s tallest elevator test towers. The new 36-floor tower is centrally located at the KONE Park manufacturing site, engineering facility and research and development (R&D) center in the Kunshan New and Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone in Eastern China.

Reaching a height of 235.6 meters, the tower contains 12 shafts that can be reconfigured for testing new high-rise solutions and components. Permanent features include a high-speed elevator that carries visitors to a sky lobby and showroom at speed of up to 10m/s. This is the world’s first double-decker elevator to feature KONE UltraRope(TM) super-light rope technology.

“The new test tower demonstrates our strong commitment to developing R&D in mid- and high-rise elevator technology. We are the industry leader in China, and this investment will further strengthen our position in a rapidly changing market. Now that we have additional capacity and capability to test our innovations, we will be able to deliver new products faster than ever before,” says Henrik Ehrnrooth, CEO and President at KONE.

The Kunshan test tower is the tallest among KONE’s eight global testing facilities. KONE’s underground testing facility in Tytyri, Finland, is 305 meters deep, allowing the company to test elevators at speeds up to 17 m/s – the only testing facility in the world where such speeds can be reached. In the new Kunshan test tower, the maximum speed is 15 m/s.

The Kunshan R&D team works in close collaboration with KONE’s existing high-rise laboratory researchers in Finland. “It will bring our R&D units in Finland and China closer together. Geographically it benefits us to have two separate laboratories near our markets in Europe and Asia, serving both hemispheres,” adds Ehrnrooth.

The opening ceremony was attended by the Finnish Minister of Economic Affairs Olli Rehn, the Vice Mayor of Suzhou Xu Huimin, as well as KONE Chairman Antti Herlin, and KONE President and CEO Henrik Ehrnrooth.