Opening Address by SMS Sim Ann at the Association of Women in Construction (Singapore) Seminar

Thursday, 31 March 2022

OPENING ADDRESS BY MS SIM ANN, SENIOR MINISTER OF STATE, MINISTRY OF NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT & MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, AT THE ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN IN CONSTRUCTION (SINGAPORE) SEMINAR ON 31 MARCH 2022, 9:45AM, ORCHARD HOTEL
Introduction

Good morning to all of you. I am delighted to be here today with our many partners and friends in the Built Environment (BE) sector.

Five years ago in 2017, I had the privilege of launching the inaugural “SMART Women in Built Environment Conference”. “SMART” being an acronym for Skilled, Motivated, Articulate, Resourceful and Transformed. And I cannot think of a better grouping of five words to describe women in all professional fields. That conference gathered professionals from various countries in the region to discuss how to support and sustain women’s participation and development in the traditionally male-dominated built environment sector.    Subsequently, the Conference’s Organising Chairman Ms Emily Tan led a working group to set up the Association of Women in Construction (Singapore) (AWiCS).

I am happy to see the growth of this association since then. AWiCS is the first association dedicated to the growth, development and retention of women in Singapore’s BE sector. Despite COVID-related disruptions over the past two years, the association has organised many online webinars and mentoring programmes, and is steadily growing a community of professionals to champion this cause. This is remarkable because the association works to support two very important missions: One, growing talent for our BE sector. And two, encouraging diversity by raising the profile of women in the sector.

Transforming the Built Environment Sector

Indeed, talent is key to transform the sector. We partnered industry stakeholders to start this transformation journey back in 2017, by putting together the Construction Industry Transformation Map, or ITM for short. Since women represent half of our society, we must tap on them too – not just the men – to realise our ambition of a transformed sector, and to blaze new trails.

You and the generations of Built Environment professionals before you are responsible for our beautiful Singapore skyline and resilient physical infrastructure today. Singaporeans benefit from the fruits of your labour every day – be it from the homes you have built, or the roads and train tracks that we all use on our commutes to work or school every day. Your work today will also help to build the Singapore of tomorrow for future generations.

Today, our Built Environment sector is at a turning point. While we continue to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world will continue to change. Technological advancements, climate change, an ageing population, these are just a few examples of emerging trends and significant events that require us as well as our industry to adapt.

That is why it is important that we build resilience into our Built Environment sector. COVID-19 has cast a spotlight on our reliance on manual labour. We need to address this so that we can better prepare our industry for any future challenges. More than that, this will allow us to maximise productivity gains, capture economic opportunities and continue to create good jobs for Singaporeans.

To do this, we need to innovate. We should leverage new technologies and evolve business models. Challenge the way we have always done things. Invest and experiment with new solutions. This can help us automate manpower-intensive processes and reduce our dependence on manual processes. Innovation can also improve productivity and open the door to many exciting new possibilities. For instance, prefabrication and Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA) will allow us to shift construction off-site, reducing and speeding up on-site work. This is one of the key thrusts of the Construction ITM that I mentioned earlier.

We have been making some strides in adopting DfMA – in 2021, around 44% of building projects by GFA adopted DfMA, and we are on track to meet the target of 70% by 2025. This has also allowed us to push boundaries. Singapore houses some of the world’s tallest Prefabricated Prefinished Volumetric Construction (PPVC) buildings. Clement Canopy – a condominium complex in Clementi – is currently the tallest, standing at 140 metres or 40 storeys high. The two towers of Avenue South Residence is set to claim this record as the world’s tallest PPVC buildings when completed. They will be 56 storeys high and stand at almost 200 metres.

Crucial Role of Women in this Transformation

Jobs in an advanced construction industry will also be very different. Physical attributes – like strength – will be less relevant as we adopt more new digital technologies and automate manual processes. New skills will be required, for example computational design and sustainability management.

In this regard, we will need a highly-skilled – or SMART – workforce to support a resilient, sophisticated, and technologically-advanced future construction industry. Women have a key role to play in contributing ideas, leadership, and expertise to bring this transformation about.

The Government has worked closely with the industry and our tertiary institutions to rebrand the sector, and to showcase the meaningful and exciting job opportunities available. Women accounted for 30% of the Built Environment resident workforce last year. It is also heartening that we are seeing interest in the sector among the next generation. About one in every three recipients of scholarships awarded by BCA under the iBuildSG Scholarship and Sponsorship programmes over the past three years have been women.

Attracting and Retaining Women

So, there is interest, and there is talent. But we can do more to attract and retain women in this sector. This is important because diversity strengthens our sector. Many studies have shown that diverse teams – made up of both men and women – perform better and innovate more.

That is why we will need to continue working closely with different stakeholders, including organisations like AWiCS, individuals like yourself, and the firms you represent. Each one of us has important roles to play in growing a diverse and yet cohesive workforce. Let me elaborate.

At the individual level, there are many ways to contribute. We often talk about women supporting other women, but regardless of whether we are women or men, I think we can all support and champion diversity. Creating an inclusive work environment, volunteering for mentoring groups or simply participating in events and conversations, like today’s, are all ways that you can play a part. You can also join a community to amplify impact. Coming together and contributing to associations, like this one, exponentially grows the potential for change.

At the company level, firms can also continue to refine and improve their HR practices. HR plays an important role in creating a positive and productive work environment for all. Flexible working arrangements that accommodate the personal obligations of an employee – be it a daughter taking care of her elderly parents or a father sending his children to school – will help to attract and retain talent in the industry.

At the national level, the Government will continue to work closely with the industry, as well as Trade Associations and Chambers (TACs) to rejuvenate the sector and create good jobs for Singaporeans. Industry transformation will require upskilling and reskilling, as well as job redesign. To better facilitate this transition and transformation, the Government has worked closely with the industry to chart out progression pathways for various Built Environment careers under the Skills Framework for the Built Environment. This contains information on job roles, competencies and possible career pathways to benefit job seekers and employers alike. For example, someone who starts their career as a site supervisor, can work towards a role as an engineer, construction manager and even a project director.

We are also embarking on a Jobs Transformation Map (JTM) study for the BE sector. We want to be more targeted in our approach for workforce development, and tailor our initiatives to grow in-demand jobs for the next bound of industry transformation.

In this regard, the JTM will examine the combined effects of COVID-19 and industry transformation, and chart out targeted interventions for specific roles. We aim to conclude the JTM in the second half of this year and will work closely with our stakeholders to implement the recommendations.

Ultimately, we envision an even wider range of attractive job opportunities and career prospects in the transformed Built Environment sector for all Singaporeans, and it is my hope that our women can take good advantage of this opportunity.

More broadly, the Government is committed to advancing women’s development in Singapore. This includes supporting women in the workplace as outlined in the White Paper on Singapore Women’s Development, which we will be debating in Parliament next week. It is our hope that with a concerted push, women’s advancement in all professional fields, including the BE sector, will flourish.

Conclusion

To conclude, I would like to thank AWiCS and your partners, for organising this very meaningful event. This is an exciting time for us. Many challenges lie ahead, but I am confident that our industry can and will transform to one that is more resilient and able to seize even more new opportunities. I look forward to seeing many more women blazing new trails for the Built Environment sector, and I hope that AWiCS will grow from strength to strength.

Thank you very much.