There has been strong interest from firms vying to win the contract to help devise a masterplan for the Jurong Lake District - earmarked as Singapore's second central business district.
Five teams have been shortlisted, with one expected to be appointed as consultant by January, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said yesterday.
The five were picked from a total of 35 teams that submitted proposals in July. They will now proceed to stage two, which involves submitting a conceptual masterplan by the end of the year. This will be assessed by an evaluation panel.
"The five teams scored the highest for their track record and quality of their submitted statement of planning and design intent and approach," the URA said in a statement yesterday.
The proposals submitted by the teams set out strategies to develop a masterplan, including an analysis of challenges for the area and how these can be overcome.
In picking the five, the URA took into account the teams' experience and ability to create a masterplan for an urban district centred on a high-speed rail station. The teams consist of tie-ups between local and international firms with good track records in areas such as masterplanning, urban design, transport planning, architecture, landscape design, environmental sustainability and urban logistics.
Singapore companies are represented in each of the five teams, and they include firms such as Architects 61, DP Architects, SAA Architects, RSP Architects & Planners, Langdon & Seah and Tierra Design. Their international counterparts include Arup, Allies and Morrison, Grimshaw Architects, Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei, Nikken Sekkei and KCAP Architects & Planners.
Stage two of the exercise will look at transport connectivity, shaping a distinctive identity for the district, and district-level infrastructure, including a district-cooling system and plans for using underground space.
The URA had announced in July that it wanted proposals to transform Jurong Lake District into a car-lite, innovative and inclusive urban space featuring greenery and waterways.
It said the area will be a "district of the future" with a new business precinct, Lakeside Gateway, which will be the site of the upcoming Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail terminus.
A seven-member panel comprising senior representatives and practitioners from government agencies, academia and the industry will be convened to assess the five proposals from stage two of the exercise. They include URA chief executive officer Ng Lang, Housing Board CEO Cheong Koon Hean, National Parks Board CEO Kenneth Er and renowned architect Moshe Safdie.
The winning team will work with the URA and other agencies to draw up a detailed plan for the district. An exhibition of the proposal will be held in the second quarter of next year to gather public feedback. The team will then work with relevant agencies to assess the feedback and refine the plan before submitting final, detailed proposals.
