New systems help old buildings save energy [News]

By Grace Chua, The Straits Times, 9 Jan 2012.

At a corner of Golden Mile Tower is a dim, but airy room, filled with whirring equipment, the shiny new pumps and chillers looking bright against the dusty walls.

Though the office-and-retail block on Beach Road is four decades old, it had all this installed last year, along with a cooling tower and a panel to monitor the performance of the system.

The hardware, fitted in to conserve energy, has done its job.

The block’s power bills have been cut by $30,000 a month, from $100,000.

The owners of older buildings such as this one and People’s Park Complex are sinking money into such systems ahead of energy-related laws that may be passed this year. Read more

Greening buildings in baby steps [News]

By Jessica Cheam, The Straits Times, 11 Dec 2011.

From a domestic agency little known outside of Singapore, the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) has undergone a transformation in recent years to become a well-known outfit winning international awards for its forward-thinking policies.

While its central concern is still that of regulating buildings to ensure that past horrors like the Hotel New World and Nicoll Highway collapses in 1986 and 2004 respectively do not happen again, the BCA has extended its mission.

Dr John Keung, 58, the man at its helm, tells The Sunday Times that BCA believes its role is more than that, because it believes that people want it to deliver a world- class environment for living.

When he took over in 2006, the first thing he did was to create the first-ever ‘CEO tea session’ where he would talk to as many staff as possible to learn the issues. Read more

International Recognition for BCA Singapore and its Green Building Masterplan [Press Releases]

Singapore, 6 December 2011 – The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) has been conferred the inaugural Regional Leadership Award, one of the six World Green Building Council Government Leadership Awards, for its exceptional Green Building Masterplan and efforts in steering the construction industry towards sustainable development in Singapore, and leadership in the green building movement in Asia Pacific.

2. The annual World Green Building Council Government Leadership Awards highlights world-leading government policies that maximize the opportunity of buildings to mitigate carbon emissions in the environment. WorldGBC’s Chief Executive Officer, Jane Henley said, “The WorldGBC’s ‘Regional Leadership Award’ recognises the outstanding vision and commitment of Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority. We congratulate the Singapore Government for developing a Masterplan that sets minimum environmental standards for building codes, provides incentives for the private sector and promotes research, development and capacity building. Singapore’s achievements clearly demonstrate that green building is not only achievable, but also affordable and practical.” Read more

Raffles Institution engage NEC to deploy real-time energy monitoring solution campus-wide [Press Releases]

Raffles Institution (RI) announced today that it has engaged NEC Asia Pacific (NEC APAC), a wholly owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation (HQ: Japan), to deploy real-time energy monitoring solution throughout its entire campus, as part of its bigger plan to improve energy efficiency and to achieve cost savings.

This initiative is part of RI’s continuous efforts towards creating a more environmentally-friendly campus. In August this year, RI was named the first recipient of the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) Green Mark GoldPlus Award [1], the second highest Green Mark rating under the BCA Green Mark for Existing Schools, which places stronger emphasis on raising the awareness among students and educating our future generation on the importance of environmental sustainability and conservation. Read more

Can S’pore buildings go “green” by 2030? [News]

By Joanne Chan, Channel NewsAsia, 22 Oct 2011.

The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) said the goal of “greening” 80 per cent of Singapore’s buildings by 2030 is an “ambitious target”.

Most buildings were constructed before new energy efficiency guidelines kicked in.

So far, about 12 per cent of existing floor areas had been “greened” and most of this took place in new buildings.

But BCA said the situation is improving, and it is working with existing building owners to recognise the benefits of being energy efficient.

In the National Development Ministry’s addendum to the President’s address, Mr Khaw Boon Wan pledged to step up efforts in “greening” buildings to make them more energy efficient and eco-friendly. Read more

BCA and UNEP Establish a Centre on Sustainable Buildings in SE Asia [Press Releases]

(18 October 2011 – Paris/Singapore) The Building and Construction Authority of Singapore (BCA) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) have joined forces in the fight against climate change. The two organizations finalized an agreement to collaborate on work to promote and establish sustainable building policies and practices in the Southeast Asia region. On 14 September, at the International Green Building Conference 2011, held during Singapore Green Building Week, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed, formalizing cooperation between BCA and UNEP to provide policy advice and outreach activities related to sustainable resource management in the building sector.

The agreement between UNEP and BCA formally established BCA’s Centre for Sustainable Buildings as a “Centre Collaborating with UNEP” to assist in developing tools, approaches and support to countries in the region in a coordinated effort to elevate sustainable solutions in the building sector. Through identification of successful policies, strategies and technologies at the regional and national levels, BCA will support the propagation of sustainability in the building sector in Southeast Asia. Read more

Going green could ‘build’ up rewards [News]

By Feng Zengkun, The Straits Times, 17 Sep 2011.

Going green for the environment may add ‘green’ to the wallet.

Adding environment-friendly features to buildings here adds to their property value by about 2 per cent, a new study here has found.

The study by the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) surveyed 23 commercial buildings, including offices, malls and hotels, to pin an economic value to green buildings.

It found that adding green features such as skylights and water-saving taps to buildings gives owners leeway to charge higher rentals.

Utility bills are lower as well. In the buildings surveyed, electricity costs fell by 6 per cent to 35 per cent, with hotels benefiting the most as major users of power. Read more

BCA-NUS Study Shows that Greening Existing Buildings Can Increase Property Value [Press Releases]

Singapore, 16 September 2011 – Retrofitting commercial buildings can lead to an increase in their property value. With an average expected savings in operating expenses of 10% resulting from the retrofitting, commercial buildings could reap an increase in capital value of about 2%. This is one of the key findings of a joint study, by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) and the Department of Real Estate (DRE) in National University of Singapore (NUS) in collaboration with the top six real estate consultancy firms – CB Richard Ellis, Chesterton Suntec, Colliers International, DTZ Tie Leung, Jones Lang LaSalle and Knight Frank, on how green buildings can impact their property value.

2. “There is now greater awareness in the industry that the upfront cost of retrofitting energy inefficient buildings can be recovered in about 4 to 7 years,” said Mr Quek See Tiat, Chairman, BCA, at the Breakfast Talk for CEOs on the last day of the 2011 International Green Building Conference today. “However, many do not realise that another potential economic benefit is the potential enhancement in the property value for green and energy efficient buildings.” Read more

New Financing Scheme and Minimum Standards for Existing Buildings Announced at the International Green Building Conference 2011

Minister of State for National Development and Manpower, BG (NS) Tan Chuan-Jin announced a new financing scheme and minimum Green Mark standards for existing buildings at today’s opening of the International Green Building Conference (IGBC) 2011, which is part of the annual Singapore Green Building Week.

In the Singapore Sustainable Blueprint, the government has set a target to green 80% of Singapore’s buildings by 2030. 95% of Singapore’s building stock are existing buildings. The challenge is how to green the existing buildings, given the higher cost of retrofitting and the lack of financing.

To help existing building owners overcome the barrier of high upfront retrofitting costs, BG (NS) Tan announced that the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) will launch a pilot scheme from 1 Oct called the Building Retrofit Energy Efficiency Financing (BREEF) Scheme. Read more

Green buildings help sustain Asia’s growth [News]

By Rod Leaver, The Business Times, 14 Sep 2011.

This week marks the opening of Singapore’s third Green Building Week since it was established in 2009. Yet, in many ways, this amazing nation-state has already leapt ahead of its time to reflect what future green cities in Asia can look like as the region strives to adopt the kind of sustainable practices that are vital for maintaining long-term development and growth.

Going green is not some lofty ideal. A sustainable built environment is all about using our available resources more efficiently which, in turn, lowers costs in the long term.

The basic unit of a sustainable built environment is a green building. Buildings have become our standard dwellings and we spend a significant amount of time in them, making a critical impact on the environment. Read more

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