SINGAPORE - City Developments Limited (CDL) was the biggest winning developer at this year's Building and Construction Authority (BCA) Awards on Thursday (May 14), sweeping up 36 accolades.
One of these was the inaugural Green Mark Pearl Prestige Award - the higher of two tiers in this new category, which recognises the concerted committment of developers, building owners, landlords and tenants of the same project or building towards environmentally-friendly efforts.
CDL earned the title for its green efforts at its City House building at Robinson Road, where 70 per cent of its interior office spaces met green standards. In a bid to reduce energy usage, the developer also implemented a green lease partnership programme last year. Under this programme, its commercial tenants pledge to monitor and reduce their energy consumption.
A total of 372 awards were handed out this year, across categories such as construction excellence, design and engineering safety, and construction productivity.
National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan, who attended the ceremony at Resorts World Sentosa, pointed to challenges such as Singapore's ageing population, acute land constraints and a shrinking labour force, and stressed the need to build more efficiently.
"We have built a lot in Singapore. But we still have many challenging projects to build, both above and underground, upwards into the sky and outwards into the sea," he said.
"We will need strong skills and new capabilities in engineering, technology and design. We will need to innovate and push the frontier of construction."
Mr Khaw also launched a new publication by the Centre for Liveable Cities on Thursday. Titled "Built by Singapore", it commemorates the built environment's sector's contribution to Singapore in the past 50 years.
