Emilyn Yap Business Times 7 Jun 10;
(SINGAPORE) Officials assessing the eco-friendliness of buildings need to get used to a jet-setting lifestyle. Besides visiting sites in Singapore, they now have to go overseas to inspect architectural features and compute energy savings.
As Singapore's Green Mark certification gains recognition abroad, more developers are trying to win this stamp of approval for their projects overseas. According to the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), there have been 74 such applications since 2006.
The Green Mark rating 'has gained popularity in the region because it is developed specially for the tropical climate', BCA told BT. When developers want properties abroad certified, BCA officers have to go there.
Other industry players have also noticed growing foreign interest in the Green Mark rating. RSP Architects Planners & Engineers director Vivien Heng said that several developers have enquired about getting overseas projects assessed.
BCA launched the Green Mark scheme in 2005. Buildings that meet set standards in areas such as energy efficiency and indoor environment quality qualify for the rating. The rating system is one of 21 recognised by the World Green Building Council.
BCA has been receiving applications from developers - local and foreign - for overseas projects since 2006. These properties are in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, China, India and the Middle East.
There is confidence in Singapore's Green Mark brand, Ms Heng said, explaining why developers abroad have shown interest. And sometimes, 'the foreign country's own green building rating system may not be so well established yet'.
Several Malaysian developers, such as Ken Property, Sunway City and Sime Darby Property, have subscribed to the Green Mark scheme.
Ken Property has obtained a Green Mark stamp for three projects. It turned to the scheme because there was no alternative in its country at the time. 'The Malaysian Green Building Index (GBI) had not yet been launched, so we went ahead with the BCA rating first,' said the company's executive director, Sam Tan.
One of these projects, a 15-storey residential building in Kuala Lumpur called Ken Bangsar, saves an estimated 640,000 kilowatt hours of energy a year and recently won a Green Mark Gold Plus award. When Malaysia launched its own green building scheme, Ken Bangsar had another assessment and got a GBI Gold award.
Mr Tan said that buildings that meet Green Mark standards can cost 3-20 per cent more to build - but there are benefits. 'All things being equal, a green building will have the edge' because of better features and increased comfort for occupants.
Sunway City has five properties with Green Mark ratings and plans to continue getting projects certified. The scheme is well established and suitable for the tropics, it said.
It is no surprise to see Singapore developers getting their overseas projects assessed by BCA too. Many of them have already obtained Green Mark ratings for projects here.
Local names eyeing a Green Mark rating for buildings abroad include Keppel Land and CapitaLand. Keppel aims to attain at least a Green Mark Gold rating or its equivalent for all of its developments. It invests up to 4 per cent of a building's construction cost in green features.
Keppel has seven properties in Vietnam and China that passed the Green Mark test. For instance, The Estella in Vietnam - designed to yield energy and water savings worth over $850,000 annually - won a Gold award.
Is there potential for the Green Mark scheme - and the Singapore brand - to go further overseas? Asked if it plans to promote the scheme abroad, BCA said that it is open to providing services overseas that help develop quality built environments. 'Green Mark certification is one of the most popular services requested,' it said.
Establishing Singapore's reputation as a regional centre for the development of eco-friendly buildings 'paves the way for our local industry to export their green building expertise'.
