Giving the green light
Singapore is leading the way to an eco-friendly future, with the government requiring that 80 percent of the city-state’s buildings achieve a green rating by 2030. Rosanne Barrett reports
Some people think Singapore is authoritarian,” said the city-state’s Building and Construction Authority deputy director Koh Lin Ji at an eco-focused media conference held in Kee Club over the summer. “It is not. But when we have a law there is no grey area.” And in the latest of Singapore’s development plans, everyone is complying – for the good of the nation and the global environment.
The tiny Southeast Asian powerhouse has developed a comprehensive strategy for development and construction, aimed at greening properties to increase their energy- and water-efficiency. Called the Green Mark Scheme, the government has stipulated minimum efficiency measures and is encouraging green construction with a raft of tax and research incentives. Since 2008, all buildings have had to comply with minimum efficiency measures in order to receive development approval. Buildings are certified as gold, gold plus or platinum, indicating energy savings of up to 35 percent.
“If we can do something to increase the energy efficiency of buildings, we can do something to reduce environmental damage,” Koh says. The programme is now in its fifth year (voluntary in the first few years but compulsory since 2008) and Koh says there are more than 300 buildings in Singapore that are certified green. “Our government will not rest at this number,” he adds.
A further plan, the second Green Building Masterplan, was released in April this year, setting targets even higher. After research showed 95 percent of Singapore’s buildings were non-green, the majority being public housing, the government determined to achieve a green compliance for buildings in 2030 of 80 percent. All government buildings must be green, private developments on public land must be gold plus or platinum rated, and work is underway on refitting existing public buildings. “This is a big job,” Koh says. “Over the next 10 years we are going to need 18,000 green-collar workers to do this – designers, architects, facility managers and maintenance workers.”
Although the cost will be significant — Singapore will spend S$500 million over the next decade to retrofit government buildings — the expected energy-cost savings in 2030 are expected to be S$1.6 billion annually.
Koh is quick to point out that green buildings are not necessarily more expensive to construct. “Developers have been very, very supportive of this scheme,” he says. “If you plan your green building from the start, it is not a lot of money.” He referenced studies showing there is no increase in the cost of construction for a building to meet the minimum requirement (gold), and that the additional expenditure needed for a platinum-grade green building is just 7 percent. What’s more, the increased benefits of a green building can outweigh the costs – rental yields are up to 20 percent higher, he says.
Some of Singapore’s initial successes have impressed designers worldwide. The city-state’s National Library is rated as a platinum green-mark building and features bioclimatic techniques in its design by Malaysian architect Ken Yeang. It faces north-south and has shading structures to reduce glare and heat, plus light sensors that trigger blinds to protect the facades. While there is an open plaza to boost the flow of air and light, roof gardens and sky terraces lower the internal temperature, and rain sensors improve the efficiency of the gardens’ irrigation systems.
Hong Kong’s Professional Green Building Council chair, Professor K.S. Wong, says Singapore’s Green Building Masterplan works because it is an overarching strategy for all developments. “I really appreciate what is happening in Singapore,” he says. “They are modernising the government buildings with a dedicated team. [Here in Hong Kong] we haven’t got those mechanisms in place.” Wong notes that while there are some excellent green buildings in Hong Kong, like the Hennessy Centre that has achieved platinum pre-certification from the U.S.-based Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design organisation, there is no overall plan for the city.
“You can have a great, green building,” says Wong. “It can be carbon neutral, but it doesn’t matter when 99 percent of the other buildings are not green.”
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