Super Low Energy is the new Green for BCA Green Mark Awards

Friday, 24 May 2019

- 17 private and public sector projects are the inaugural recipients of the Super Low Energy Award.
- 14 recipients awarded the BCA-HPB Green Mark for Healthier Workplaces certification, as more building owners place increasing emphasis on occupant health and comfort in addition to office sustainability.
- The Land Transport Authority will receive the Green Mark Champion award.

Singapore, 24 May 2019 - 17 projects will be the inaugural recipients of the Green Mark for Super Low Energy (GM SLE) Award by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) this year. The projects, from 7 private and public sector developers, demonstrated best-in-class energy performance while maintaining cost effectiveness. The SLE programme sets a higher benchmark for best-in-class green buildings in Singapore.

The Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) sets a high standard among the winners in the GMSLE category, clinching the award for eight campus projects such as its sports hall The Wave, the School of Humanities and School of Social Sciences and the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information. NTU has implemented a variety of energy saving initiatives such as the campus-wide solar energy harvesting system that generates 5.9MWh/year and a 'Passive Displacement Cooling' system which uses convection to keep rooms cool. NTU will also progressively roll-out Smart Integrated Building Management systems that will see up to 10 per cent energy savings from air-conditioning units. NTU is Singapore's first recipient of the Green Mark Platinum STAR Champion in 2016. With more than 50 Green Mark Platinum projects, NTU aims to upgrade the remaining buildings to Platinum by next year.

Another winner of the GM SLE Award is Samwoh Smart Hub, which will receive the Green Mark Platinum (Positive Energy) award. The project incorporates energy and water saving measures in its design, including double glazed windows on the north and south facades to harness natural daylight, and a windowless design on the east and west facades to reduce heat absorbed by the building. The project will also have on-site water recycling measures and leverage a smart Building Management System (BMS) and Facility Management to optimise utility management and consumption. Together with high-yield solar panels which will produce about 110% of the building's energy consumption, the Hub targets to save close to $180,000 a year in overall utility bills. The project is also a recipient of the Green Buildings Innovation Cluster (GBIC) fund, in recognition of its efforts in adopting promising building energy-efficient technologies and solutions.

CEO of Samwoh Corporation Pte Ltd Mr Eric Soh said: "Sustainability and innovation is in our DNA. Even as our business grows, we remain committed to developing innovative solutions and products to ensure sustainability in all that we do. Samwoh embraces sustainability because we understand we're not just building infrastructure, but also building the future."

Green Mark Champion: Land Transport Authority (LTA)

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has shown strong commitment towards environmental sustainability, with a total of 14 Green Mark projects. In recognition of their efforts, LTA will be conferred the Green Mark Champion this year. This year, the Yio Chu Kang Bus Interchange will receive the Green Mark GoldPLUS Award. The project expects to save an estimated 133,812kWh energy and 1811m3 of water every year. Among the features which will help the project achieve these are a green roof with drought-tolerant plants that keeps the interchange cool by reducing heat absorbed by the structure, water efficient fixtures rated Excellent under WELS, and an energy efficient air-conditioning system.

BCA-HPB Green Mark for Healthier Workplaces

14 offices will receive their awards under the new BCA-HPB Green Mark for Healthier Workplaces (GM HW) scheme. A joint effort between BCA and the Health Promotion Board (HPB), the scheme emphasises on the health, well-being and comfort of the occupants, in addition to office sustainability. Under GM HW, companies will have to consider factors such as space selection and office design, operation and maintenance, as well as occupant engagement and empowerment.

Keppel Corporation, Keppel Capital and Keppel Land, three entities under the Keppel Group, will all be receiving the GM HW (Platinum) Award. An occupancy-based smart lighting control system helps the offices save energy with better control and automation. The office has also adopted a fully agile workplace concept with no assigned seating for staff, enabling more effective and dynamic space usage. The entities have shown encouraging efforts to promote active living in the office space with sit-stand desks and internal staircases within their premises, as well as promoting healthier eating through provision of discounts for nearby healthier food establishments.

DBS Bank Ltd. has clinched two GM HW (Platinum) Awards for its offices DBS Asia Central and DBS Asia Hub. In addition to managing lighting, energy and water efficiency, the office has an open and flexible layout with the option of an activity-based design that enables new ways of working for staff to interact more, foster innovation and drive collaboration. There is strong commitment to health and wellbeing of occupants from the senior management, who launched initiatives ranging from a variety of sports interest groups to online health coaching tools to encourage employees to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

Green Mark puts local consultant firms on the world map

The BCA Green Mark has achieved international recognition since it was launched 14 years ago. To date, some 300 projects across 80 cities have attained the Green Mark certification. Singapore consultants are exporting their expertise to help meet the strong overseas demand for green buildings. For example, G-Energy Global Pte Ltd, a local small and medium-sized (SME) energy services company, has successfully grown and exported its capabilities, with the firm having close to 400 local and international Green Mark projects under its belt. The firm's notable projects include Jewel Changi Airport and Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore, Saigon Sports City in Vietnam and World Trade Centre 2 in Indonesia.

Consistent upward trend for higher-tier Green Mark Award ratings

BCA will be giving out the Green Mark Award to 395 projects this year, more than half of which have achieved the higher-tiered BCA Green Mark Platinum and GoldPLUS ratings. This uptrend has continued over recent years and is indicative that more building owners and developers are recognising the benefits of going green from both environmental and economic perspectives.

Mr Hugh Lim, BCA CEO said, "Since Singapore's green building journey began in 2005, more than 109 million m2 of gross floor area has been greened. The joint efforts of BCA and our industry partners, the Singapore Green Building Council, developers and building owners, have increased awareness of the environmental, social and economic benefits of green buildings. More are coming on board to invest in higher-tier certifications. With this year's latest batch of Green Mark projects, Singapore has 'greened' close to 40% of the country's gross floor area, bringing us closer to our national target of greening 80% of all buildings by 2030."

Annexes

Annex A - Green Mark for Super Low Energy (GM SLE) (opens in new tab) (593kB .pdf)

Annex B - BCA Green Mark Champion (opens in new tab) (25kB .pdf)

Annex C - BCA-HPB Green Mark for Healthier Workplaces Scheme (opens in new tab) (313kB .pdf)

Annex D - G-Energy Global Pte Ltd (opens in new tab) (21kB .pdf)

Portable document format version of the media release is also available (opens in new tab) (609kB .pdf).