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More Buildings Meeting Green Standards

16 May, 2014/in News/by Editor

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SINGAPORE – The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) will be giving out two BCA Green Mark Champion awards and a record number of 225 BCA Green Mark awards this year. This includes 78 Platinum and 47 GoldPLUS awards, by far the highest number of projects to have achieved the higher Green Mark ratings since the scheme was launched in 2005. The BCA Green Mark awards will be given out during the 2014 BCA Awards on 22 May at Resorts World Sentosa.

Number of BCA Green Mark Platinum and GoldPLUS awards given out each year

The high number of BCA Green Mark Platinum and GoldPLUS awards is a clear indication of the rising awareness of the BCA Green Mark as well as the growing familiarisation and competency in green building solutions within the industry. In particular, the number of awards given to existing building projects with higher Green Mark ratings increased from 16 last year to 39 this year, an unprecedented increase of almost 150%, demonstrating the success of our 2nd Green Building Masterplan which focuses on the greening of existing buildings. Stringent in its requirements, the BCA Green Mark scheme encourages the industry to adopt more sustainable building design and pushes them to constantly keep up-to-date with the latest and most efficient green building solutions.

Two BCA Green Mark Champions Unveiled

This year, the top BCA Green Mark Champion accolades will go to Keppel Land Limited and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), for having shown strong commitment and corporate social responsibility in their efforts towards greening their buildings. To qualify for the Green Mark Champion Award, the developer or building owner must clinch at least 10 BCA Green Mark awards for their building projects including at least three Platinum and three GoldPLUS.

In its pursuit to achieve higher environmental performance for its projects, Keppel Land has, since 2012, set a benchmark for all its new projects in Singapore to attain at least the BCA Green Mark GoldPLUS rating. In addition, a further target was set for all existing commercial properties in Singapore to be retrofitted to meet at least the BCA Green Mark GoldPLUS standard by 2015.

Keppel Land Limited has so far bagged 32 Green Mark awards, of which commercial buildings, Keppel Bay Tower and Ocean Financial Centre, have attained the Platinum rating. Ocean Financial Centre, notable for its iconic design and the Largest Vertical Garden as conferred by the Guinness World Records, is the first office development in Singapore’s Central Business District (CBD) to achieve the highest BCA Green Mark Platinum rating in 2008. It features an assembly of 400m2 of photovoltaic system on its roof, amongst the largest for a high-rise commercial building in the CBD.

Keppel Bay Tower, Platinum, 2014

Corals at Keppel Bay, GoldPLUS, 2013

Bugis Junction Towers, Platinum, 2014

Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has in recent years been expanding its campus as well as retrofitting its existing buildings to higher BCA Green Mark standards. Under its strategic blueprint, Sustainable Earth is the pinnacle of NTU’s Five Peaks of Excellence or research areas in which it aims to make a global mark. The greening of its buildings is one way that NTU is putting this idea into practice, by saving energy and reducing waste, as buildings take up large amounts of energy. To date, 18 building projects in NTU have been Green Mark-certified, out of which eight have attained the highest Platinum status. Here are some of the awarded projects:

Residential Halls at North Hill, Platinum, 2014

Learning Hub at South Spine, Platinum, 2012

School of Art, Design and Media, Platinum, 2010

Residential Halls at Nanyang Drive, Platinum, 2012

More BCA Green Mark Offices in Singapore

When the BCA Green Mark scheme was first mooted in Singapore, its focus was on the ‘hardware’, to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. The BCA Green Mark has since evolved to look into the ‘heartware’, placing greater emphasis on users’ behaviour. To facilitate this, user-centric Green Mark schemes have been introduced in recent years, such as the BCA Green Mark for Office Interior, Green Mark for Restaurants and Green Mark for Supermarkets. These schemes aim to encourage users and occupants to adopt more environmentally friendly features and sustainable practices in their premises.

In fact, green offices are fast gaining popularity in Singapore. Since the launch of the BCA Green Mark for Office Interior scheme in 2009, the number of offices that are assessed under the scheme has risen from four in 2009 to 98 today.

The Credit Suisse office, located in One@Changi City, a Green Mark building, is one of the offices receiving the Platinum award this year. Besides the use of environmentally friendly fittings as well as energy-efficient lighting and electrical appliances, Credit Suisse also adjusted its air-conditioning and lighting for different zones within the office. Its flexible hot-desking system within an open layout allows staff to choose their preferred seat where they can experience the ideal temperature and lighting at different times of the day. This helps reduce the need to further warm or cool different parts of the office to meet the preferences of different staff.

BCA’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr John Keung, said, “All of us have a role to play in reducing carbon emission from buildings especially when buildings consume about one-third of Singapore’s total end-use electricity. Going green provides a cost-effective win-win solution for businesses as it not only allows them to do their part for the environment by cutting down on energy consumption, but more importantly create a healthier and better quality working environment for the employees. BCA, through its user-centric Green Mark schemes, will continue to encourage more businesses and occupants to make conscious efforts in adopting environmentally friendly features and practices at their workplaces. We also urge more building owners, developers and master planners to reach for the higher Green Mark ratings and to set their sights on the BCA Green Mark Champion and Platinum Champion status to firmly anchor themselves as sustainability champions in our built environment.”

Singapore has set an ambitious target to green at least 80% of all buildings in Singapore by 2030. To date, there are about 2,000 BCA Green Mark building projects in Singapore, translating to about 24% of the total gross floor area.

Information issued by Building and Construction Authority

2014 Pritzker Prize Laureate Revealed

25 March, 2014/in News/by Editor

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Shigeru Ban

“Shigeru Ban is a tireless architect whose work exudes optimism. Where others may see insurmountable challenges, Ban sees a call to action. Where others might take a tested path, he sees the opportunity to innovate. He is a committed teacher who is not only a role model for younger generation, but also an inspiration.” — Pritzker Jury 2014

Shigeru Ban, a 56 year old architect, has been announced as the 2014 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Established by the Pritzker family of Chicago in 1979, the prestigious award is widely regarded as “the Nobel Prize” in the architecture profession.

Ban is the seventh Japanese architect to become a Pritzker Laureate since– following Kenzo Tange in 1987, Fumihiko Maki in 1993, Tadao Ando in 1995, the team of Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa in 2010, and Toyo Ito last year.

According to the jury, the Pritzker Prize recognizes architects who both display “excellence in built work and who make a significant and consistent contribution to humanity.” Shigeru Ban, whose approach is as innovative as it is humanitarian, “reflects this spirit of the prize to the fullest.”

“He is a force of nature,” said the jury chairman, Lord Palumbo, “which is entirely appropriate in the light of his voluntary work for the homeless and dispossessed in areas devastated by natural disasters.”

“Receiving this prize is a great honour, and with it, I must be careful,” said Ban, who splits his time between offices in Tokyo, Paris and New York. “I must continue to listen to the people I work for, in my private residential commissions and in my disaster relief work. I see this prize as encouragement for me to keep doing what I am doing – not to change what I am doing, but to grow,” commented Ban on receiving the award.

A little of Ban’s background and his works

As a boy, Shigeru Ban observed traditional Japanese carpenters working at his parents’ house and to him their tools, the construction, and the smells of wood were magic. He would save cast aside pieces of wood and build small models with them. He wanted to become a carpenter. But at age eleven, his teacher asked the class to design a simple house and Ban’s was displayed in the school as the best. Since then, to be an architect was his dream.

Ban began his career in the office of Arata Isozaka, after being educated in America at the Southern California Institute of Architecture, and then New York’s Cooper Union School of Architecture.

He founded his own Tokyo practice in 1985 with little experience and went on to complete a number of residential projects in Japan such as Three Walls (1988), Curtain Wall House (1995) and Naked House (2000).

Curtain Wall House – Tokyo, Japan, 1995

Naked House – Saitama, Japan, 2000

In all parts of his practice, Ban finds a wide variety of design solutions, often based around structure, materials, view, natural ventilation and light, and a drive to make comfortable places for the people who use them. From private residences and corporate headquarters, to museums, concert halls and other civic buildings, Ban is known for the originality, economy, and ingeniousness of his works, which do not rely on today’s common high-tech solutions.

His first designs for paper-tube structures were used to provide temporary homes for Vietnamese refugees after the Kobe earthquake in 1995.

“When you finish a roll of tracing paper or fax paper, there are always paper tubes left over,” he said. “They were so strong and so nice, so I kept them. Then I went to the factory where they made them, and I saw they could make any length and any diameter.” Paper and cardboard have long been part of an architect’s toolbox for drawings and models of buildings, but for Japanese architect Shigeru Ban they are good enough to make the real thing.

Paper Log Houses – Kobe, Japan, 1995

In 1995, he founded a non-governmental organization called Voluntary Architects’ Network (VAN).With VAN, he has tackled disaster relief in Turkey, India, China and Haiti. Since then the architect has travelled to sites of natural and man-made disasters around the world to develop low-cost, recyclable shelters for affected communities.

His most recent disaster-relief project involved erecting a magnificent cardboard cathedral after the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, resulting in an elegant A-frame next to the ruins of George Gilbert Scott’s stone building.

Cardboard Cathedral – Christchurch, New Zealand, 2013

Cardboard Cathedral Interior

IES Drive Higher standards for M&E Works

14 March, 2014/in News/by Editor

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The Institution of Engineers, Singapore (IES) launched the Mechanical & Electrical (M&E) Resident Engineers (RE) and Resident Technical Officers (RTO) Registry today, in partnership with the Association of Consulting Engineers Singapore (ACES).

Functioning as an accreditation scheme to institutionally recognise M&E REs and RTOs who possess the necessary professional competence, skills and experience to perform their duties, this new registry will assist the built environment sector in ensuring that building projects are completed according to high safety standards and quality.

Although it is not a statutory requirement for M&E REs and RTOs to be accredited, the scheme will help in setting out the necessary requirements for a site supervisor so that qualified candidates can be identified and selected to assist Professional Engineers (PEs) in the supervision of contractors to meet required standards at work sites.

The scheme will also emphasise on the ability of REs and RTOs to implement energy-saving equipment or materials for building projects across the island, paving the way for meeting the target of at least 80% of green buildings by 2030.

For the individual M&E RE and RTOs, the scheme provides a career advancement platform for these supervisors, one through which they can share experience and network with their counterparts, voice their challenges or concerns, and acquire new knowledge through courses jointly organised by IES and ACES.

To be registered, an M&E RE or RTO must possess the required academic qualifications, relevant on-site experience and pass an interview.

“As the people on the ground supervising construction works, M&E REs and RTOs play extremely important roles in the development of safe and high-quality buildings in Singapore. With its rigorous entry requirements, the registry will serve as a competency benchmark for employers and Professional Engineers looking to hire qualified casino pa natet REs and RTOs,” said Prof S.K. Chou, President of IES.

“The setup of the registry is timely and critical in our push for a future-ready built environment by ensuring high standards in the M&E works in the industry. Besides green building development, another area where M&E REs and RTOs can contribute is raising construction productivity. With technologies ever advancing, the M&E sector can work with BCA to explore and introduce innovative and productive mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) technologies, systems and work methods to achieve high degree of buildability and constructability in all construction projects,” commented Dr John Keung, CEO, Building & Construction Authority (BCA), who was the guest-of-honour at the event.

In 2009, IES introduced the Civil and Structural (C&S) REs and RTOs Registry to enable employers to fulfil the statutory requirement under the Building Control Act for C&S REs and RTOs to be accredited. To date, in partnership with ACES through a Joint Accreditation Committee, IES has registered 5,000 C&S REs and RTOs.

PARKROYAL on Pickering Wins President’s Design Award 2013

26 December, 2013/in News/by Editor

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PARKROYAL on Pickering, Singapore’s first hotel-in-a-garden, has been awarded Design of the Year by The President’s Design Award 2013. Singapore’s most prestigious design accolade recognizes excellence across all design disciplines and is conferred by the President of the Republic of Singapore.

The Award venerates buildings that make a significant difference to the community by improving quality of life through design. Entries are judged by a panel of expert jurors from both Singapore and overseas. Jointly organised by DesignSingapore Council and the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), this year’s award saw a total of 131 nominations. In total, nine awards were given out for Design of the Year.

PARKROYAL on Pickering, designed by the award winning WOHA, is one of only 65 projects to have been singled out since The President’s Design Award was first founded seven years ago. This year, the hotel was commended by the Jury for ’’solving a complex problem radically with imagination and flair, bringing lush greenery and integrated landscape to high-rise development’’.

The Design of the Year joins a host of awards already received by PARKROYAL on Pickering in its first year of operation. Since opening in January 2013, the property has established itself as a design icon and ground-breaking hotel garnering accolades, across the spectrum of architecture, design, property, sustainability and greenery.

Most recently, the hotel was given the Outstanding Award by the Skyrise Greenery Awards 2013. Granted by Singapore’s National Parks Board (NParks), PARKROYAL on Pickering was recognized for the skillful integration of sky gardens within the hotel’s architecture, allowing guests to view and enjoy greenery from every room. PARKROYAL on Pickering was also named Hotel of the Year by the World Architecture News (WAN) Awards 2013. Judges described the property as a garden online casino of ‘warmth and vitality’ floating through Singapore’s canyon of concrete. PARKROYAL on Pickering’s sustainable project design and green efforts have also earned the 2013 HICAP Sustainable Project Design Award, as well as the Solar Pioneer Award for its innovative solar energy system. It has also been the first hotel awarded with the BCA Green Mark Platinum, Singapore’s highest green rating.

About PARKROYAL on Pickering
PARKROYAL on Pickering, a PARKROYAL Collection hotel, is managed by the Pan Pacific Hotels Group. A further expression of the PARKROYAL brand, a PARKROYAL Collection hotel is distinguished by its unique architecture and design elements while embodying the intrinsic PARKROYAL characteristics of modern comfort, uncomplicated service and authentic local connections.
Designed by award-winning architectural firm WOHA, PARKROYAL on Pickering adopts a hotel-in-a-garden concept and incorporates energy-saving features throughout the property. Its sustainable project design and green efforts have earned it the BCA Green Mark Platinum, Singapore’s highest green rating, as well as the Solar Pioneer Award for its innovative solar energy system.
Strategically located at the key gateways to Singapore’s central business district, Hong Lim Park and bustling Chinatown, the 367-room property provides an urban oasis in downtown Singapore, with convenient access to waterfront entertainment and dining options along the Singapore River as well as cultural gems across the island. PARKROYAL on Pickering, a PARKROYAL Collection hotel, is ‘Your Trusted Local Companion’ in Singapore.

Inaugural BEI Asia Awards

8 December, 2013/in News/by Editor

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Group photo

Singapore – The inaugural BEI Asia Awards took place on December 3, 2013 to great success in the Island Ballroom at Shangri-La Hotel. It was a night of glitz, glamour and gold as the winners walked away with trophies signifying their excellent contributions to the built environment industry.

The event commenced with a winners’ networking session held in the Banyan Room. In the company of their esteemed peers they exchanged experiences, suggestions and opinions. They were then treated to a grand red carpet entrance as they walked down the center of the ballroom to the flashes of camera lights and thunderous applause from their invited guests.

Guest-of-Honor Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee, Former Senior Minister of State, casino online Ministry of Law and Ministry of Home Affairs, graced the awards ceremony alongside representatives from embassies, chambers of commerce, government agencies,and other related associations.

The BEI Asia Awards is a significant milestone in the regional built environment industry, especially among small and medium enterprises. The awards recognises and rewards companies that have demonstrated excellence in establishing successful businesses while engaging in best business practices such as corporate social responsibility and sustainability.

Asia Responsible Corporate Awards (ARCA), an extension of the BEI Asia Awards, recognises business icon which includes companies like City Developments Limited, PropNex Realty, Yanlord Land Group and Samsung C&T Corporation, who have made a difference in developing excellent business initiatives to achieve ground-breaking achievements.

To add a touch of class and sophistication to the night, Aston Martin sponsored two beautiful supercars whose engines roared gloriously when revved in the ballroom, and Bell & Ross gave five award winners an even bigger reason to smile as they left the night each with a luxury timepiece.

Guest-of-Honour Assoc Prof Ho Peng Kee

Trophies for the winners

Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki wins WorldBuilding of the Year at World Architecture Festival 2013

6 October, 2013/in News/by Editor

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Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, New Zealand, designed by Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp and Archimedia, has won the ‘World Building of the Year’ award at the prestigious World Architecture Festival (WAF) Awards 2013.

The new Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki is an extensive public project that includes the restoration and adaption of heritage buildings; a new building extension which more than doubles the public exhibition areas; extensive basement storage and support areas; and the redesign of adjacent areas of Albert Park. The design creates an openness and transparency to allow views through, into and out of the gallery circulation and display spaces into the green landscape of Albert Park.

Commending the winning project on behalf of the festival’s super-jury, Paul Finch,WAF Programme Director, said“The winning project transcended category types. You could say it is about new and old, or civic and community, or display. It contrasts the manmade and the natural, and the relationship between art and science. This is a major design achievement in a seismic zone, providing an example of design pragmatism and a carful reworking which does no more than it needs to until it is required. Balancing many different elements, the resulting design is a rich complex of built ideas.”

This project was selectedbythe festival’s super-jury, having first beaten off competition from 12 shortlisted entries in the Culture category, before triumphing over the festival’s other 16 category winners.

The sixth edition of the World Architecture Festival welcomed over 2100 architects and designers from 68 countries attending for three daysof speeches, presentations and exhibitions.

Projects entered in this year’s festival awards, against a challenging economic climate, reflected the festival’s theme of ‘Value and Values’ demonstrating the core factors that inform the relationship between perceptions of financial value and the values that architects typically hold regarding their work.

This year’s super-jury was chaired by Ken Tadashi Oshima of The University of Washington. The highly esteemed international judging panel also includes Ken Yeang – Llewelyn Davies Yeang; Patrick Bellew – Atelier Ten; Jeanne Gang – Studio Gang Architects and Dietmar Eberle – Baumschlager Eberle.

For more information visit: www.worldarchitecturefestival.com

BCA-SIA-SGBC International Tropical Architecture Design Competition Reveals Winning Projects

13 September, 2013/in News/by Editor

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The International Tropical Architecture Design Competition is in its third year running. It was initiated by BCA, the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA) and the Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC) in 2011. This year’s competition, with the theme “Live, Study, Play – Our Green Campus”, contestants had to demonstrate the essentials and key constituents of a green campus and submit a design for one component or building of a campus. Entries had to be applicable for the tropical climate and showcase innovative and sustainable designs. Entries also had to show how the proposed building would integrate with the other functional spaces and buildings in a campus. The entries also had to focus on incorporating both active and passive design strategies, renewable energy (if applicable) and other ecological features; ensure that the design concept allows end-users; cultivate behaviours or actions that would keep the campus community sustainable in the tropical climate; highlight how to reduce carbon footprint; be based on a green assessment tool of choice to validate the sustainable design concepts; and include a degree of feasibility based on resources available in the present day.

A three-member team from the National University of Singapore and University of Melbourne has won the International Tropical Architecture Design Competition 2013 for Institutes of Higher Learning for its entry on “Mushroom Community Campus”, the Building and Construction Authority of Singapore (BCA) announced on 12 September 2013. The competition, a co-located event of International Green Building Conference (IGBC) 2013, was opened to architecture students from institutes of higher learning around the world and focused on tropical green architecture and sustainable building design solutions.

The competition aims to nurture future architects and leaders in tropical green building designs and to promote awareness of the need for sustainable living in the region. A total of 19 teams from five countries including China, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam submitted entries for this year’s competition, themed “Live, Study, Play – Our Green Campus”. Five teams from Singapore and Australia (joint submission), India, Indonesia and Vietnam were shortlisted for the final judging, which was held on Tuesday, 10 September 2013 during the 2013 Singapore Green Building Week.

The winning entry, the “Mushroom Community Campus”, is a joint submission by Pham Huu Loc (Team Leader) and Ng Pui Shan from the National University of Singapore and Hoang Van Anh from the University of Melbourne. The “Mushroom Community Campus” envisions a vocational education, training and research centre, specialising in environment, agriculture, forestry, education and sustainability management, in Sapa, Vietnam.

Based on a biophilic design concept of using fresh air, daylight and water features, the campus design utilises natural resources such as an innovative earth-air tunnel that helps to reduce the energy required for conditioning the air by using the thermal properties of the earth as heat exchanger. Other features such as photovoltaic panels, solar water heating and rainwater harvesting further enable the campus to be almost completely self-sustainable and reduce energy consumption net carbon dioxide emission by more than 70 percent. The resultant design was an integrated one which included inputs from more than one discipline, and showed a good match between design and site context, resulting in a unique form which interested the judges.

Picture featured (From left): Mr Quek See Tiat, Chairman of the Building and Construction Authority with Ng Pui Shan and Pham Huu Loc both from the National University of Singapore.

For more information: www.bca.gov.sg

MIPIM Asia Awards 2013 Honours Outstanding Pan-Asian projects

11 September, 2013/in News/by Editor

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Paris, September 10, 2013 – MIPIM Asia, the property leaders’ summit in Asia Pacific, today reveals the 32 winning projects in the 7th edition of the MIPIM Asia Awards competition, which have honoured outstanding real estate projects in the Asia Pacific region since 2007.

The MIPIM Asia Awards jury, headed by Mr. Vincent H.S. LO, Chairman of Shui On Group, examined 98 projects from 13 countries, which entered this year’s competition. Project submissions covered the region with entries from China, Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Bahrain and Russia.

Commenting on the 2013 Awards, MIPIM Asia Director, Filippo Rean, noted, “what is particularly striking is the quality of projects that were submitted from across the Asia Pacific region. Entries from nine different countries made it onto the jury’s final winners list which confirms the vibrancy of the real estate sector and the innovation which is taking place throughout the region.”

The 16 industry experts composing the international jury selected the winners in 11 distinct categories, for a total of 32 winning projects, which are:

BEST INNOVATIVE GREEN BUILDING

CIC Zero Carbon Building , Hong Kong
Pearl River Tower, Guangzhou, China
Tree House, Singapore

BEST MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT

Jem, Singapore
Jing An Kerry Centre, Shanghai, China
L’Avenue Shanghai, Shanghai, China

BEST OFFICE & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Jing Mian Xin Cheng, Beijing, China
Liaogou River Headquarters Business Park, Jining, China
Skyview Corporate Park, Gurgaon, India

BEST RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT

Cube 8, Singapore
IDEO MORPH 38, Bangkok, Thailand
Miro, Singapore

BEST RETAIL & LEISURE DEVELOPMENT

iapm Mall, Shanghai, China
Palm Island Chongqing, Chongqing, China
The STAR, Singapore

BEST RETAIL STORE DESIGN

Audi Terminal, Singapore
Hankyu Umeda Flagship Department Store,Osaka, Japan

BEST URBAN REGENERATION PROJECT

Centres of Central, Hong Kong
Tianjin Cultural Centre, Tianjin, China
Yasumoto International Academic Park and Wu Ho Man Yuen Building, Hong Kong

BEST FUTURA PROJECT

Gotjawal Village, Seogwipo, South Korea
Sequis Tower, Jakarta, Indonesia
World Confucianism*Sunbi Culture Park & Korean Cultural Theme Park, Andong, South Korea

BEST FUTURA MEGA PROJECT

Bhartiya City, Bangalore, India
Dai Nippon Printing Ichigaya Factory Redevelopment, Tokyo, Japan
Vung Ro Bay Masterplan, Tuy Hoa, Vietnam

BEST CHINESE FUTURA PROJECT

K11 Beijing Art Mall, Beijing, China
Nanjing Eco-Tech Island Xin Wen Ti Tech Park, Nanjing, China
Taihu New City Cultural Zone & Lang Kwai Fong Wuxi, Wuxi, China

BEST CHINESE FUTURA MEGA PROJECT

Hangzhou Crystal City Master Plan, Hangzhou, China
Nanhu New Country Village Master Plan, Jiaxing, China
The Habitat, Qinhuangdao, China

MIPIM Asia delegates will get to vote online for their favourite projects in each category, and their votes, combined with the jury’s vote, will determine the Gold, Silver or Bronze ranking of the winners. This final ranking will be revealed during a gala dinner on Tuesday 5 November, at Hong Kong’s Grand Hyatt Hotel.

The MIPIM Asia Awards jury also selected the winner of the Special Jury Award, which will be revealed during MIPIM Asia Awards gala dinner.

More info at http://www.mipim-asia.com/en/the-programme/awards/

HDB’s Punggol Breeze Bags FIABCI Singapore Property Award 2013

5 September, 2013/in News/by Editor

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The Housing & Development Board (HDB) has won the FIABCI Singapore Property Award 2013 in the Master Plan Category for its project, Punggol Breeze.

FIABCI Singapore Property Awards 2013

This is the third consecutive year that HDB’s efforts in creating a better living environment for Singaporeans, has been recognized by FIABCI [Federation Internationale des Administrateurs de Bien-Conselis Immobilisers], the International Real Estates Federation. With this win, Punggol Breeze earns the prestige of representing Singapore at the renowned FIABCI Prix d’Excellence Awards, the pinnacle of awards in the international real estate arena.

The FIABCI Singapore Property Award is Punggol Breeze’s fourth accolade. Other awards received include the BCA Universal Design Award (Gold) 2013, HDB Design Award 2013 and HDB Construction Award 2013 – Certificate of Merit.

A ‘Gateway’ to Quality Living in the Heartland

Punggol Breeze is a premium Build-To-Order (BTO) project comprising 964 four- and five-room flats in 12 blocks. Completed in December 2012, it is bounded by Punggol Drive and Edgefield Plains, and is conveniently served by the nearby Oasis LRT station, which is two stops away from the Punggol MRT station.

Its design draws inspiration from the concept of a “gateway” – residents walking along the pedestrian boulevard from the LRT station to Punggol Breeze are greeted by a “gateway” framed by four distinctive blocks which leads them seamlessly to the precincts, amenities, and facilities beyond. The project sports a contemporary yet sleek finish, defined by grey, clean cut lines bordering the façade, and contrasted against orange hues. From afar, Punggol Breeze’s carefully variegated skyline, and staggered elevations of the blocks further accentuate its distinctive character.

To realise the vision of Punggol Breeze as a lush and tranquil sanctuary, concerted effort was made to incorporate expansive greenery and integrate them with community spaces for residents. One of the highlights is a 270m linear roof garden atop the multi-storey car park, currently the longest roof garden in Punggol. While the extensive greenery helps to reduce heat and glare, the central location of the roof garden in the precinct enables residents casino online to enjoy the breathtaking sight of verdant foliage from their homes. To facilitate fostering of familial ties, as well as encourage bonding and interaction amongst the community, social and recreational spaces are carved out for facilities such as the children’s playground, fitness corners, and resting shelters for informal gatherings.

Another key feature of Punggol Breeze is its 7,000sqm common green which is adorned with palm trees and willows, and evokes a natural glasslands setting. Besides enjoying the communal facilities, residents can take strolls along the pedestrian paths and jogging track. Additionally, pockets of spaces have been reserved for future community use, and residents will be invited to contribute their ideas when designing these spaces.

Dr Cheong Koon Hean, Chief Executive Officer of HDB, said, “HDB is once again honoured to receive the FIABCI Singapore Property Award 2013. It is indeed a recognition of HDB’s efforts in providing functional and aesthetically-appealing living environments. This is aligned with HDB’s Roadmap to develop well-designed, sustainable, and community-centric towns. We endeavour to keep up with the good work in delivering quality and value for money homes for Singaporeans.”