SINGAPORE - The Building and Construction Authority's (BCA) new academy extension will include smart and green facilities, and promote "experiential learning".
Costing $62.2 million, the two new buildings will come with exposed pipes and fittings that students can explore first hand, facilities maintenance technology and an rooftop education deck with an urban farm.
Another key feature is a rotatable rooftop laboratory which can test building materials and systems in Singapore's tropical climate - the first of its kind in Asia. A collaboration between the BCA and the United States' Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the lab is open-air and can be rotated to face different directions when required.
The campus extension, to be operational by the second quarter of 2015, will also incorporate productive construction techniques, green features and disability-friendly designs, all of which the BCA has been pushing for in other buildings.
Sustainable technology such as solar panels and pumpless water tanks, for instance, will help to reduce energy use by 35 per cent, while 88 per cent of the structure will be made with precast methods.
"We are walking our talk and doing what we preach," said BCA's chief executive Dr John Keung. "It represents a microcosm of the future of the built environment that BCA envisages for Singapore - safe, high quality, sustainable and friendly."
Meanwhile, some 970 graduates received their diplomas and specialist diplomas at the academy's annual graduation ceremony on Friday (Nov14).
Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry and National Development Lee Yi Shyan, who attended the ceremony, said in a speech that Singapore's workforce has to continuously update its skills in order to stay relevant in future.
He said: "To future-proof our workforce against obsolescence, we need our workforce to regularly un-learn and re-learn. We need to develop the passion to embrace life-long learning."
