SingLand sees ‘healthy’ interest in The Clifford ahead of 2028 completion of Raffles Place redevelopment
The group is ‘cautiously optimistic’ on rents in the area, with tight office supply and strong demand for Grade A space expected to lend support
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[SINGAPORE] Singapore Land Group (SingLand) is seeing “healthy interest” in The Clifford, its redevelopment of the Clifford Centre site into a new premium Grade A office tower in the Central Business District that is slated for completion in 2028.
“We started marketing in the first part of this year. We are happy with the level of interest shown by prospective tenants – it has been good and healthy,” Goh Poh Leng, SingLand’s commercial head, told The Business Times on Wednesday (Mar 11).
She said the space has been well-received across the board and there are ongoing discussions with potential tenants. “The ideal mix would be MNCs (multinational corporations) and financial institutions,” she added.
The Clifford is a complete rebuild of the former Clifford Centre in Raffles Place. The Grade A office project will nearly double the height of the previous building to 220 metres, and yield 405,000 square feet (sq ft) of net lettable area over 35 floors.
It will house about 360,000 sq ft of office space across 21 storeys, along with 45,000 sq ft of retail and food and beverage offerings. It will also have a 2,000-sq-ft multi-purpose hall for tenant events and conferences.
SingLand is “cautiously optimistic” on rents in the area, with tight office supply and strong demand for Grade A space expected to lend support, though geopolitical conditions remain a wild card.
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“The CBD is lacking good-quality office space,” noted Heng Chin Hong, head of sustainability and product development at SingLand.
“Given that the (Urban Redevelopment Authority or URA) Master Plan no longer releases office parcels within the precinct and there is a push for decentralisation to the Jurong district, that motivates us to supply high-quality space within the city,” he added.
Although The Clifford’s office space component is “only 360,000 sq ft, which is quite manageable”, rents “need to be competitive with the market in 2028”, said Justin Teh, SingLand’s deputy general manager of commercial.
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Office rents in the central region rose 0.4 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared with the preceding quarter, reversing the Q3 dip of 0.1 per cent. For the whole of 2025, the URA’s office rental index climbed 0.3 per cent after a flat 2024.
The Clifford will be the only fresh premium Grade A supply in Raffles Place for several years; the last new development was CapitaSpring, which launched in 2021, said SingLand.
Evolving commercial portfolio
Based on a plot ratio of 15.57, The Clifford’s gross floor area (GFA) is 52,042 square metres (sq m), including bonus GFA of 1,504 sq m from the Built Environment Transformation scheme.
The scheme allows developers or building owners to have up to 3 per cent additional GFA for projects meeting certain productivity, digitalisation and sustainability requirements. The development will also have a 400-sq-m outdoor refreshment area.
The Clifford will hold triple Platinum certifications from the Building and Construction Authority’s Green Mark, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and International Well Building Institute.
In total, SingLand expects a 38 per cent uplift in GFA from the previous building, which had GFA of 37,589 sq m based on a plot ratio of 11.25. Built in 1977, Clifford Centre was a 29-storey retail and office building. Redevelopment works began in 2023.
On the sizeable space allocated to F&B within The Clifford, SingLand said it aims to provide dining options that support office tenants and the wider Raffles Place area. The offerings will include international and new-to-market brands.
“The strategy is to have more casual options at basement one, slightly more formal ones at level one, and business-friendly options at level two – capturing multiple fronts,” it added.
The group’s commercial portfolio is slated to keep evolving through targeted upgrades and redevelopments across its properties. While it remains focused primarily on Singapore, Heng noted the company has added assets in Australia.
In Singapore, it spent about S$160 million to refurbish its Singapore Land Tower, adding more lush green spaces, energy-efficient features and new tenant amenities.
Another redevelopment the market is watching closely is that of Marina Square. SingLand’s parent company, UOL , plans to release more details on this in the first half of 2026.
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