New Kajima hub to serve as Apac HQ, drive R&D for construction

Singapore

KAJIMA Corporation's first overseas innovation centre at Changi Business Park will serve as its Asia-Pacific (Apac) headquarters, as well as contribute new building technologies and research and development (R&D) capabilities to the construction industry.

On Thursday, the Japan-listed construction company broke ground for the centre, named Kajima Global Hub, at a ceremony which was live-streamed online.

The hub, in which Kajima invested S$100 million, is slated to be completed by 2023, and will occupy 13,088 square metres of business park space, R&D lab space, and double its volume construction lab space in Changi Business Park.

It will also consolidate the group's 400 staff across its business functions in Singapore - construction, engineering, development, research, and design - under one roof.

"Kajima Technical Research Institute Singapore (KaTRIS) will conduct R&D and open innovation on advanced construction technologies, as well as testbed sustainable and wellness technologies (at the facility)," said Kajima in a joint statement with JTC on Thursday.

The expansion of R&D activities under KaTRIS will increase the number of local research personnel, and the centre will thus "create better jobs, attract local hires and reduce the environmental impact of new developments", it added.

However, the group declined to comment on the number of vacancies that will be available, or what the new jobs entail.

The construction of the Kajima Global Hub project will be the first known application of a comprehensive suite of robotics solutions by Kajima outside Japan.

On why Singapore was chosen as the location for its Apac headquarters, Kajima Development's managing director and chief executive Shuichi Oishi said: "Singapore is a magnet to many of the top multinational companies. Hence, it is the best strategic location where Kajima can spearhead our operations in the Asia-Pacific and beyond."

At the ceremony, Kajima also reaffirmed its partnership with JTC, after both organisations signed a memorandum of understanding last year to share expertise and collaborate on R&D to improve productivity and maintenance capabilities within the sector.

"By combining our engineering capabilities with forward-looking industry expertise, we hope to accelerate and contribute to the built environment sector's digitalisation journey," said JTC's chief executive Ng Lang.

For instance, the two companies have developed a concrete finishing robot which is expected to "reduce manpower and labour cost by 50 per cent, on top of improving quality and safety".

The companies are now working with Nanyang Technological University and Mega Plus Technology to refine the new robot, and are looking to deploy the first prototype of the concrete finishing robots at Kajima Global Hub when ready, said Calvin Chung, JTC's group director of engineering.

"Once the performance of the robots is validated, it will be deployed and scaled-up in the construction industry," he added.

The importance of such R&D efforts was highlighted by Minister of State for Trade and Industry Low Yen Ling, who said at the ceremony: "In the long run, we cannot continue with the old model of over-reliance on labour for construction."

She added: "Emerging technology trends such as robotics and artificial intelligence will play an instrumental role in reshaping the built environment sector in a post Covid-19 world.

"When such changes are embraced, the construction industry in Singapore will become more productive and will be able to offer good employment opportunities. Construction companies will also be better positioned to compete globally and expand their footprints overseas."