Opening remarks by BCA Chairman Mr Lee Fook Sun at the Opening Ceremony of the International Built Environment Week

Wednesday, 4 September 2019

Conference Theme: Transforming the Way We Build

Mr Lawrence Wong, Minister for National Development, and Second Minister for Finance;
Mr Paul Beh, Chairman of Reed Exhibitions Asia Pacific;
Excellencies;
Distinguished Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen

Opening remarks

Good Morning. It is my pleasure to welcome all of you to the inauguration of our flagship event, the International Built Environment Week, or I-B-E-W in short. To our more than 12,000 visitors, from across more than 50 countries, a warm welcome to each and every one of you.

The Built Environment sector, or (as we more often call it) the “BE sector” in Singapore has come a long way. Over the past decades, much effort has been invested to establish a safe, high quality and sustainable built environment, contributing positively to Singapore’s physical and socio-economic landscape. To continue charting the way ahead, the government together with our industry and union partners laid out the Construction Industry Transformation Map two years ago. The ITM is a shared vision for an advanced and integrated building sector, with progressive and collaborative industry players taking the lead, and offering good jobs for our workforce.

Genesis of IBEW to promote greater co-creation and learning from the best

We will all remember the Singapore Green Building Week and the Singapore Construction Productivity Week that we used to have in the past. Both these annual events have played a critical role in advancing industry’s drive towards sustainability and productivity. Indeed, many of us have had fruitful experiences at these events.

Riding on these preceding platforms, the IBEW promises to be even better and bigger. Co-organised by BCA and Reed Exhibitions, in partnership with industry stakeholders, the IBEW is an integrated and comprehensive platform which represents the coming together of stakeholders from every segment in the sector. It symbolizes our common aspirations for an advanced and progressive Built Environment Sector.

The IBEW, in itself, also represents our collective ability to collaborate, to co-create and to realise our aspirations for a transformed sector. It would not have come to fruition without the strong partnership and support of 12 Built Environment Trade Associations and Chambers.

By tapping on the collective wisdom in the industry, we have today, a conference with good quality of content. Over the next three days, we will have the opportunity to hear from more than 100 distinguished speakers, from Singapore and abroad. With the overarching theme, ‘Transforming the Way We Build’, we will be focusing on key transformation areas such as DfMA, digitalisation, sustainability and smart Facilities Management.

Spotlighting IBEW up as the region's premier "go-to" BE platform

Beyond the professional learning, the congregation of industry experts across the entire Built Environment value chain offers all of us the opportunity for conversations that will allow us to discuss industry transformation holistically, taking on board a full range of industry perspectives. We hope that the IBEW will enable you to build networks and facilitate sharing of professional knowledge and best practices with local and global partners.

On this front, a new key highlight of IBEW is the business matching platform, named “BE Connect”, that aims to facilitate targeted business opportunities and deal flows between Singapore and regional firms. We are pleased to welcome more than 70 overseas developers from China, India and South East Asia who will be joining us this year.

Conclusion - A stepping stone to the next bound of partnership and collaboration

Moving ahead, the IBEW will be established as an annual affair with a different theme for each edition. I am confident that IBEW will provide a meaningful platform to strengthen partnership among industry stakeholders, and enable us to fulfil the broader mission of building Singapore for the future, at the same time contributing to the development of the region around us.

Once again, I welcome all of you to IBEW 2019. With the knowledgeable speakers who have generously agreed to share their insights and experience, the depth and breadth of industry represented here as participants, and the interactive nature of our panel discussions and the many networking events, I am sure that everyone here will have a fruitful and enjoyable time. May I wish everyone a very successful IBEW. Thank you.

Related:

- BCA news release: Transforming the way we build at Singapore's inaugural International Built Environment Week (IBEW)
- BCA news release: BCA launches first one-stop smart portal on green building solutions in the region

Portable document format version of the speech is also available (199KB .pdf).