Push for greener buildings under refreshed masterplan
Target is for 80% of new buildings to be Super Low Energy from 2030; energy performance standards to be raised
Singapore
AS SINGAPORE raises sustainability standards for green buildings under the refreshed Singapore Green Building Masterplan (SGBMP), it is targeting 80 per cent of new buildings to be Super Low Energy (SLE) buildings from 2030. (see amendment note)
On Thursday in Parliament, National Development Minister Desmond Lee outlined plans to make Singapore's urban environment more green and sustainable under the "Energy Reset" pillars of the Green Plan.
Three key targets are part of the fourth edition of SGBMP - to green 80 per cent of Singapore's buildings (by gross floor area) by 2030; to have 80 per cent of new developments to be SLE buildings from 2030; and for best-in-class green buildings to see an 80 per cent improvement in energy-efficiency levels by 2030 (compared to 2005 levels).
SLE buildings are those which achieve at least 60 per cent improvement in energy efficiency vis-a-vis 2005 levels.
Under the first target, Singapore has made good progress by greening over 43 per cent of its buildings, although there is more to do, said Mr Lee during the debate on his ministry's budget for the new financial year.
"Beyond that, we must push more owners of buildings to pursue best-in-class standards, and become SLE buildings," he said.
The government will take the lead in SLE buildings and build industry capabilities to develop SLE buildings, so the private sector has more use cases to take reference from.
In line with the third target, research and innovation efforts will be ramped up to accelerate the deployment of cost-effective green technologies.
"We are seeing how we can further enhance funding support for (the) Green Buildings Innovation Cluster (programme) to help us achieve this third target," said Mr Lee.
The minimum energy performance requirements for new buildings and for existing buildings that undergo major retrofitting will also be raised, said Minister of State Tan Kiat How.
The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) will raise the minimum energy performance requirements for new buildings and for existing buildings which undergo major retrofitting to 50 per cent and 40 per cent more energy efficient respectively (vis-a-vis 2005 levels), up from 30 per cent and 25 per cent respectively. In addition, the Green Mark Scheme will be updated.
Mr Tan said: "The revised scheme will raise energy performance standards and place greater emphasis on other aspects of sustainability such as health and well-being, and how the buildings are designed for maintainability." The new standards will be trialed from Q2.
Meanwhile, to speed up the adoption of technologies such as Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA), the BCA will also raise the minimum buildable design scores (B-scores) for all industrial, commercial and institutional building projects with a gross floor area (GFA) of at least 25,000 square metres from April 2022.
Under the Buildability framework, projects with a GFA of at least 5,000 sq m are required to meet minimum B-scores by adopting labour-efficient designs and technologies.
In his speech, Mr Lee also touched on a new scheme that will enhance support to drive transformation in the built environment sector by supporting alliances across the value chain, such as developers, builders, consultants and sub-contractors.
The Growth and Transformation Scheme, as it is called, will be launched in the second half of this year.
Each alliance will need to develop at least a three-year business and transformation plan showing how the alliance will increase productivity using the DfMA and Integrated Digital Delivery technologies.
Mr Lee said: "(The alliance) should also seek to achieve sustainability targets, build better capabilities, develop the workforce, and improve business growth and strategic collaboration."
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Amendment note: An earlier version of the story stated the refreshed Singapore Green Building Masterplan is targeting 80 per cent of new buildings to be Super Low Energy (SLE) buildings by 2030. It should be 80 per cent of new buildings to be SLE buildings from 2030.
