Singapore is leading the way on green buildings through actively greening its building stock, improving its masterplan for green buildings, and providing events for green building industry players to collaborate on solutions and explore the latest products and services.
Singapore is one of the leading cities in the world in terms of per capita green building space, with 21% of the country’s entire building stock having been green-rated within a short span of 8 years. This news was shared at the 5th Singapore Green Building Week 2013, which brings together the International Green Building Conference (IGBC) 2013 and Build Eco Xpo (BEX) Asia 2013, and also the inaugural World Engineers Summit, in a single location at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre. The joint opening ceremony for the 3 events was held today.
In his opening address at the ceremony, Mr Quek See Tat, Chairman, Building and Construction Authority (BCA), said that Singapore started with only 17 green buildings in 2005 (through its Green Mark rating system for green buildings), and now has 1,650 green buildings or 21% of its entire building stock, including existing buildings.
To continue its efforts in greening buildings, BCA will be unveiling the 3rd Green Building Masterplan to guide Singapore’s green building journey over the next 5 to 10 years. In his opening addresss at the ceremony, Mr Teo Chee Hean, Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs, said that the Masterplan “will help to realise our vision of being a global leader in green buildings with special expertise in the tropics and sub-tropics.”
The Masterplan will include more efforts to develop industry skills, capabilities, and technology adoption; grooming of green specialists; and working on industry standards for zero and net-positive energy buildings and low energy high rise buildings. It will also include more emphasis on monitoring and verification of building energy performance, carbon emissions reduction strategies, and look to improve the quality of the built environment and occupant well-being.
The IGBC will see over 1,000 participants from more than 35 countries coming together to discuss and collaborate on green building solutions. This year’s BEX Asia showcases products and services for the green building and construction industry, from more than 300 exhibiting companies. The inaugural World Engineers Summit brings together engineers from different disciplines to discuss, explore and share ideas on climate Change.
With these efforts, Singapore is not only on track to green 80% of its buildings by 2030, but also to be a global leader in green buildings.
Source and Image: IGBC, BEX Asia, World Engineers Summit
