by Brianna Crandall — June 8, 2016 — At the BCA Awards 2016, the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) of Singapore lauded exemplary achievements by Singapore’s built environment industry and shared with more than 2,000 industry players the initiatives that BCA has introduced to spur building owners on their green journey.
Minimum environmental sustainability standards for existing buildings
With the national target to green at least 80% of the Singaporean building stock by 2030, a phased approach was adopted to require existing buildings to meet minimum sustainability standard when they are retrofitted. The initial phase took effect from January 2014, targeting commercial buildings with gross floor area (GFA) of 15,000 m2 or more.
The next phase, which will take effect in early 2017, requires medium-sized buildings, with GFA greater than 5,000 m2, to meet minimum standards equivalent to the Certified level of the BCA Green Mark Scheme when they undergo retrofitting to install or replace the cooling system within their building.
Enhancement to $50 million Green Mark Incentive Scheme for Existing Buildings and Premises
The $50 million Green Mark Incentive Scheme for Existing Buildings (GMIS-EBP), which was introduced in September 2014, will be enhanced to provide stronger support for building owners and tenants to jointly undertake energy improvement works within their buildings.
Building owners with at least 10 percent of tenants that are small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will be eligible for the program, which provides a cash incentive amounting to up to 50% of the cost incurred solely for the purchase and installation of energy-efficient equipment within the building.
Besides relieving the high capital cost of replacing the air-conditioning system, the scheme will also cover the cost of building optimization to help improve energy efficiency. This scheme is also applicable to office and retail buildings in business parks, as well as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), voluntary welfare organizations (VWOs) and religious organizations. The new enhancement will apply to applications received on or after June 30, 2016.
Extension of Building Retrofit Energy Efficiency Financing scheme
Another program that helps building owners secure upfront capital to enhance their building’s energy efficiency is the Building Retrofit Energy Efficiency Financing (BREEF) scheme, which was introduced in 2011. Under the program, BCA partners select financial institution (FIs) in Singapore to facilitate loans to building owners, with BCA sharing the risk of any loan default with the participating FIs. The scheme has been extended by two more years, until the end of March 2018.
New SGBC-BCA Zero Capital Partnership Scheme for retrofits
A new initiative that BCA is rolling out in partnership with the Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC) is the SGBC-BCA Zero Capital Partnership Scheme (ZCPS), aimed at helping building owners carry out building retrofits. Building owners who require capital and technical assistance in building retrofits can now find support from Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) firms accredited by SGBC.
These EPC firms will conduct energy audits and propose the necessary retrofits as well as provide financing, and / or facilitate the application of suitable financing and incentive schemes for building owners.
BCA Green Mark Champions and first PlatinumSTAR Champion
The highlight of the BCA Awards was the top accolades that were given out to honor the industry’s best. This included the inaugural BCA Green Mark PlatinumSTAR Champion award conferred to the Nanyang Technological University (NTU). This latest honor category was introduced in recognition of outstanding developers and building owners who have 50 or more building projects that have achieved the highest BCA Green Mark Platinum rating.
The 51 Green Mark Platinum new and existing buildings on Nanyang Technological University’s campus grounds include the upcoming Academic Building North.
To date, NTU has 51 Green Mark Platinum new and existing buildings in its campus grounds that are projected to generate an estimated 39,000 MWh of energy savings annually — equivalent to the amount used to power up over 8,000 HDB 4-room apartments for a year. This year, NTU won 37 BCA Green Mark Platinum awards. Among the winning projects are the Clinical Sciences Building located at the Novena Campus and the upcoming Academic Building North.
Given the increasing awareness and popularity of the BCA Green Mark within the industry, BCA gave out 304 Green Mark awards this year — the highest thus far — including four Green Mark Champions awards conferred to Genting Singapore PLC, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, and National Parks Board.
Record number of awards this year
This year, a record number of 424 awards were given out at the annual BCA Awards ceremony, which celebrates the best in the industry in areas of safety, quality, sustainability, productivity and universal design.
