Surbana teams up with JTC to boost productivity, sustainability in building sector

URBAN and infrastructure consultancy Surbana Jurong inked a partnership with JTC Corporation on Thursday to develop solutions that will boost digitalisation, automation and sustainability in the built environment sector.

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) aims to combine JTC's project management and engineering capabilities with Surbana Jurong's urban and infrastructure consulting expertise to develop practical and scalable solutions, Surbana Jurong and JTC said in a joint statement.

In the area of digitalisation for example, drones with artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities could  be used to digitalise information gathering and reduce time spent by engineers on manual monitoring on site.

As for improving sustainability, Surbana Jurong and JTC will jointly explore new alternative building materials and technologies that can lower carbon footprint.

The agreement was among a record 10 MOUs that Surbana Jurong signed with industry partners at the International Built Environment Week 2019, which was organised by the Building and Construction Authority of Singapore and held at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre.

The other partners include digital construction solutions provider Glodon, VR/AR company 51VR, lighting firm Philips-Signify and Republic Polytechnic.

Surbana Jurong, which is owned by Temasek Holdings, said in a separate statement that the MOUs allow it to tap on the strengths of its partners in areas including building information modelling (BIM), robotics, smart cities and smart lighting.

It will also be collaborating with Shui On Joint Venture in Hong Kong to help expand prefabricated, prefinished volumetric construction (PPVC) products and services into overseas markets.

The MOU signing was witnessed by Second Minister for National Development Desmond Lee.

Surbana Jurong group chief executive Wong Heang Fine said in statement: "The 10 MOUs which we have inked today demonstrate our dedicated focus in working with industry partners to seek improvements and innovations."