The Business Times
business-time-50
BRUNCH

Tearing down Singapore’s love of brand-new buildings

To place the Republic’s built environment on a more sustainable footing, developers need to turn away from demolishing and rebuilding, and move instead to adaptive reuse.

google-preferred-sourceAdd BT as a preferred source
Wong Pei Ting

Wong Pei Ting

Published Fri, Dec 1, 2023 · 04:33 PM
    • The Verge’s annex block and the basement wall structures of its main block were reused in the development of Tekka Place.
    • The Verge’s annex block and the basement wall structures of its main block were reused in the development of Tekka Place. SOURCE: TEKKA PLACE, LENNARD CHAN, PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: SIMON ANG

    TAYLOR Swift had been singing longer than Bedok Point had been standing, when developer Frasers Property said in 2021 that it would tear down the four-storey mall at 11 years of age. In its place: Sky Eden@Bedok, a 17-storey residential-commercial hybrid.

    Earlier this year, CapitaLand Development announced that it will take the wrecking ball to JCube, an 11-year old five-storey mall in Jurong East, to make room for the 40-storey J’den project, another residential-commercial hybrid.

    In their developers’ pursuit of profits, many commercial buildings in Singapore are being demolished and rebuilt before their useful life is fully up, generating a tremendous amount of waste and emissions. Adapting and reusing buildings and structures are more sustainable, but it will take a confluence of aligned policies and industry acceptance to shift the needle.

    BrunchESGConstructionSingapore propertyBuilt environment sectorCarbonsustainabilityInfographics

    TRENDING NOW

    Grant Wee built Hideaway as a massage-and-bathhouse concept centred on solitude and recovery.

    UOB CEO’s youngest child Grant Wee turns burnout into a wellness business

    HSBC Singapore CEO Wong Kee Joo says the expansion “reflects our confidence in the country’s future as a leading wealth, trade, and innovation hub”.

    Wanted: 100 AI specialists, 100 wealth relationship managers at HSBC Singapore

    This marks the second-largest initial public offering in China’s history.

    China chipmaker CXMT jumps 472% in debut after US$9.8 billion IPO

    A combined CapitaLand-Mapletree group would be better positioned to compete, and it would raise the profile of the Singapore market.

    Temasek should publicly state its position on the long-rumoured CapitaLand-Mapletree merger

    Latest T-bills Treasury Bills Results & Interest NewsLatest SSB Singapore Savings Bonds NewsLatest COE Certificate of Entitlement News
    Latest Johor-Singapore SEZ NewsLatest BTO Build To Order & Sales of Balance NewsLatest STI Straits Times Index NewsLatest SGX Dividends, Share Price NewsLatest Bonds Market NewsLatest Singapore Stocks To Buy NewsLatest Singapore Economy News
    View More