CONCEIVED by the late Lee Kuan Yew as a Garden City, Singapore is rapidly evolving to become a City in a Garden, upholding sustainability as one of its key tenets. While we witness world- class gardens and community engagement coming to fruition, real estate market participants must step forward as important stakeholders and frame a suitable response to support the nationwide enterprise.

Construction is one of the largest consumers of raw materials, and research has shown that the construction sector alone is responsible for almost half of the world's carbon emissions. To encourage more resource-efficient buildings, the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) launched the Green Mark Scheme to evaluate buildings for their environmental impact and performance, and offered incentives for building owners to attain the Green Mark rating for their properties.

In 2008, the Building Control Act was amended, requiring all new buildings and buildings that undergo major retrofitting works to achieve a minimum sustainability standard equivalent to the basic Green Mark certification level. After the amendments were made, the rise in electricity consumption by commerce and service- related sub-sectors moderated from an annual 6 per cent in 2010 to 2 per cent in 2014.