SINGAPORE - The Landscaping for Urban Spaces and High-Rises (Lush) programme to encourage skyrise greenery in private developments is being enhanced to cover more development types and more areas here.

Dubbed Lush 2.0, this Urban Redevelopment Authority scheme puts in place more regulations on skyrise greenery requirements, as well as more incentives for building owners and developers.

For instance, the original Lush programme required developers to replace all of the greenery lost from the site due to development, with communal green areas in the project, including rooftops and sky terraces. This applied to new developments in areas around Marina Bay, Kallang Riverside and Jurong Gateway.

With Lush 2.0, this landscape replacement policy will now apply to all new developments and redevelopments in Marina South, Orchard Planning Area (part), two mixed-use parcels along Orchard Boulevard in Paterson Hill Subzone, Woodlands Regional Centre, Punggol Creative Cluster, Tampines Regional Centre, and Paya Lebar Central as well as commercial and commercial/residential developments within town centres.

The original programme also grants bonus gross floor area for rooftop outdoor refreshment areas, when buildings in the Orchard and Downtown Core planning areas convert their existing roof into a roof garden or green roof. Lush 2.0 extends this incentive to new developments and redevelopment proposals and to commercial and mixed-use developments in parts of the Singapore River area.