Charging Ahead On Green Creativity

Ideas that pay – that is the essence of the creative economy, a concept first mooted by author John Howkins in 1991. In real estate, this has translated into innovations that lead to eco-buildings that make business sense and CapitaLand is committed to developing such projects.

Being green future proofs CapitaLand’s properties in anticipation of future higher fuel cost, rising expectations and changes in the physical environment and even legislative requirements.

CapitaLand had set Green rating targets in Singapore for its development projects before these were made compulsory. Over time, it raised its internal bench mark for such ratings to be always above legal requirement. Currently, the rating to be achieved is at least BCA Green Mark Gold^PLUS status for all its Singapore projects initiated from 2011 onwards.

Mark of Green Committment

As a mark of CapitaLand’s success in riding the green wave, the Group was given eight awards at last month’s Building and Construction Authority (BCA) Awards 2011 in recognition of its building’s green features and construction excellence adding to CapitaLand’s haul. Since the inception of BCA’s Green MarCk Awards in 2005, the real estate giant has won 39 BCA Green Mark Awards for 33 of its properties in Singapore.

The commitment, however, goes well beyond Singapore’s shores. CapitaLand endeavours to incorporate green features into its developments overseas.

“All CapitaMalls Asia colleagues from our China, India, Japan, and Malaysia offices are constantly putting on their thinking hats to implement green initiatives in our projects. We have also set ourselves a higher target in the Green rating for some of our important projects overseas such as a Green Mark Gold for our Chengdu Tianfu project,” says Chow Chee Khang, Vice President of Regional Investment & Asset Management, Engineering Design & Technical Services, CapitaMalls Asia Limited. The minimum Green rating target for CapitaLand’s overseas projects is certification by any Green rating system recognised by the World Green Building Council.

The Nassim, one of the residential properties that won the Green Mark Gold^PLUS award at the BCA Awards 2011

Not a drop to waste

This year, the much anticipated JCube, the
soon-to-be completed shopping mall at Jurong Lake District in Singapore was conferred the most coveted Green Mark Platinum Award.

When completed end of this year, its Olympic-size ice rink on level 3, the only one of that size in Singapore, will have a grey-water recycling system to recycle the ice shavings from the rink. Water from sprinklers and AHU discharge water will also be collected and recycled. There will be a rainwater harvesting tank to collect rainwater for irrigation of the landscaping in the mall. JCube will also have an additional moisture sensor to ensure that the plants get only what they need and not more.

Similar rainwater harvesting systems will also be installed in its residential projects such as The Nassim located in the Nassim enclave near Orchard Road. Apart from recycled rainwater, another innovation that CapitaLand uses to reduce water consumption is a 100% drip type irrigation system. This system allows smaller amounts of water to be delivered nearer the soil surface thus wasting less water.

Commercial development One George Street was the winner of the Green Mark Gold ^PLUS award

Energy Efficiency

One of the other hallmarks of eco-buildings is energy efficiency. In this area, CapitaLand buildings have used a number of different innovations to help reduce energy consumption.

JCube, for example, will recycle waste heat from its ice rink chiller to heat the rink’s shower rooms and the ice re-surfacing machine. One George Street’s proposed improvement of the chiller plant efficiency to 0.74 kilowatt per refrigerant tonne was one of the features that led to the clinching of the Green Mark Gold^PLUSBCA Award this year.

CapitaLand is also one of the pioneers in Singapore in the use of solar panels for power usage in common areas. JCube and The Nassim count on solar panels for a part of its electrical supply. In addition, The Nassim employs a nifty innovation called sunpipes to light its basement car park. Sunlight is channelled into the car parks through pipes with angled lenses reducing the reliance on artificial lighting.

Reducing waste, Reusing Waste

The Atrium@Orchard, a retail mall that will be adjoining Plaza Singapura won the Green Mark Gold at the BCA Awards 2011

Even in terms of materials, CapitaLand buildings try to reuse materials from the old building. JCube has green demolition practices in place so that materials recovered from the demolition of the old site can be recovered, and reused . JCube and The Atrium@Orchard also use recycled PC road curbs.

Going green in the construction and design of buildings may seem a colossal effort for now. But it is a worthy investment. Such practices not only save the Earth, it can save the company actual money in the long run. This is something CapitaLand is acutely aware of and is continuously employing creativity in coming up with sustainable technology.

“Moving forward, the greatest challenge in any building industry will be how to self-generate and self-sustain through green initiatives. This will have to come in the form of Passive Design with the integration of green technology through advanced computer simulation to assess the building design performance. One example would be designs to optimise solar heat gain from the sun and increase natural ventilation through the building in tropical sunny and monsoon weather,” says Chow.

Congratulations to CapitaLand’s 2011 BCA Award Winners.

Click on the links in the table below to learn more about the winning buildings.

Property

Award

1.JCube