New carparks come with gardens, old ones may get green roofs

Straits Times Forum 17 Dec 09;

I THANK Mr Lee Seck Kay for his letter last Thursday, 'Green option for roofs'. We share his view on the benefits of green spaces and have been integrating more greenery into our estates.

For new housing projects, we incorporate a roof garden on the top deck of multi-storey carparks, right from the planning stage. Since 2005, roof gardens are a common sight in new towns such as Punggol and Sengkang.

For existing multi-storey carparks, it is not always feasible to add roof gardens. Such gardens come with intensive greenery like shrubs, trees and facilities like playgrounds and fitness courts, which require additional structural loading to be provided right from the start.

Instead, we have introduced a low-maintenance rooftop greenery system that is lightweight in nature and does not require additional structural loading. These green roofs come with hardy ground cover and have been provided in older towns such as Toa Payoh, Serangoon and Hougang since 2006.

We will implement more of such green roofs in existing multi-storey carparks to benefit residents.

Alan Tan
Acting Deputy Managing Director
(Environmental Sustainability Research)
Housing & Development Board

Green option for roofs
Straits Times Forum 10 Dec 09;

'Turn these man-made deserts into something beautiful and beneficial, like a roof garden.'

MR LEE SECK KAY: 'Singapore may already be green but there is much we can still do. My study overlooks an HDB multi-storey carpark. The largely unused carpark roof - and many more like it all over the island - often reminds me how we could turn these man-made deserts into something beautiful and beneficial, like a roof garden. Even the roofs of thousands of housing blocks can similarly be transformed with imaginative landscaping. Swiss biodiversity advocate Stephan Brenneisen has said that 'people feel happier in a building where we have given something back to nature'.'