Speech by Minister Lawrence Wong at BCA-Industry Built Environment ITE Scholarship Award Ceremony
Jan 22, 2016
I am happy to join you today for the Scholarship Award Ceremony. Let me start by congratulating all 112 of our scholarship recipients who are seated here. Congratulations and well done! I believe your family members are here as well, so I think the scholars should also give a round of applause to acknowledge and show your appreciation to your family members who have supported you all this time.
50 years ago, Singapore was just a small, struggling city. Our parents and grandparents lived in crowded shop-houses and kampongs.
Today, our whole city has been completely transformed.
It is a very different city. We have a distinctive skyline, not just in the CBD but all over our HDB heartlands. We have beautiful buildings, well-conserved monuments, and excellent public infrastructure.
I don’t know about you but every time I travel overseas, and when I’m on the plane flying back into Changi airport, I will try to look out the window and catch a sight of the landing. As we come down and I see the physical outlines of our cityscape, we can’t quite see the city, but we see the outlines of our little island, our shining red dot, I can’t help but feel a sense of tremendous pride that what we have is really a precious jewel that has become something very special to all of us.
Our founding leaders and our pioneer generation were the ones who helped to make today’s Singapore possible. We were also fortunate to have amongst them a very strong team of builders, architects and engineers who helped to transform Singapore physically.
The people behind all our construction works are, in many ways, the hidden heroes who helped to build today’s Singapore. Their legacy lives on in the buildings and physical infrastructure that we see today. These are the legacy of our pioneers, our founding generation of architects, builders and engineers. They are the ones that have helped to make today’s Singapore possible.
Now, that we have passed half a century of nation building we must start looking forward and planning for our future Singapore. What do we want Singapore to be like 50 years from now when we celebrate SG100? I think that there are many exciting possibilities but the work must start today, so that 50 years later when we celebrate SG100, our plans can be realised and we can see a different Singapore in SG100. Not all of us will be around during SG100, but I think many of the young people will be, so you are the ones who will be shaping Singapore for the future.
And the work we do cannot be just business as usual. It’s not just about packing in more buildings in our limited land space. We cannot simply continue with the status quo or just pursue incremental change.
We must dream big and imagine what our future city can be.
For example, how can our buildings provide for a more comfortable living environment and improve our quality of lives?
How can we have better designs to meet the needs of an ageing population, and at the same time engage and inspire our young people?
How can we ensure a built environment that is energy efficient and resilient to the impact of climate change?
These are big challenges, there are no easy answers. But with new technologies and methods of construction, our built environment sector is becoming more progressive and more productive, and also more prepared to meet these challenges of the future.
For example, we are now constructing Singapore’s first Lego-style buildings, and we say Lego-style because it is literally built like Lego blocks. It’s pre-fabricated and so more of the work is done off-site and we will take these huge Lego blocks and assemble it into a building. This is already being done today, and this new methods of construction are saving us time and manpower.
This is just one example of a construction method which is cleaner, quieter and safer. There are many other technologies that will become more pervasive in the future, whether it is robotic fabrication or even 3D printing. You see 3D printers today printing small, little things; in the future you can have 3D printing that can do 3D printing for an entire house. These technologies are increasingly being developed and they will become more possible and pervasive in the future.
And with technologies like these, I’m confident that we can come up with more effective and innovative construction solutions. Solutions that will help us achieve a future built environment that is inclusive, environmentally-sustainable, and aesthetically pleasing. For all of us to enjoy, and for future generations to enjoy.
To realise all these dreams, people and talent are key.
We need people with specialist engineering and architectural skills to build higher and deeper – because we may be building underground in the future, and also to develop smarter, greener and more accessible buildings.
So that is why I am very happy to announce today that we are launching a 5-year Sectoral Manpower Plan (SMP) for the Built Environment sector, as part of our national SkillsFuture movement.
This is something that BCA has been working on for some time, in consultation with industry stakeholders.
Over the years, BCA has introduced several initiatives to help raise productivity and to transform the Built Environment sector.
Now through this Sectoral Manpower Plan, we will have more comprehensive strategies and plans mapped out over the next 5 years and beyond.
What do we hope to achieve with something like this?
First, we aim to nurture a stronger Singaporean core for the built environment sector. We want the sector to be anchored by Singaporeans helping us to take this sector forward.
Second, we aim to provide better job opportunities for Singaporeans in this sector.
And thirdly, we also aim to upgrade the skills of those who are already working in the sector and to offer them better career progression pathways.
So for all our scholars and our students who are considering or pursuing careers in this sector, there is really a lot to look forward to. You are joining at the right time, as they say, market timing is critical, so you are joining at a very good time for the sector.
For example, we have the Earn and Learn Programme. You can continue learning while working, through on-the-job training, mentorship and upgrading courses.
This year, we will see the first batch of Built Environment Diploma and ITE graduates who will benefit from the Earn and Learn Programme.
One example is Sherman Goh. He is studying in ITE studying Civil and Structural Engineering Design. I understand that he was inspired to join the sector by his father, who used to be construction foreman. He is already looking forward to starting work with his sponsor company, where he will get valuable, hands-on work experience based on actual projects.
Beyond attracting new talent, the Sectoral Manpower Plan also caters to those who are already in the workforce.
Practitioners can tap on BCA’s suite of part-time sponsorship programmes to upgrade their skills and capabilities. We have made these courses affordable through subsidies, and now you can also use the $500 SkillsFuture Credit to further offset the course fees. It is already subsidised but you can use the SkillsFuture Credit to get even more assistance to help defray and offset the course fees.
BCA has worked hard to put together this Manpower Plan. But we really need the help of our companies to translate the plans into action.
For example, firms can partner BCA in its suite of scholarship and sponsorship programmes. By doing so, we are investing in our young people, giving them a vote of confidence and guiding them along as they find their footing.
Companies also play an important role in recognising their employees, recognising them for their skills, and encouraging them to go for relevant courses. For example, you can also nominate them for the new SkillsFuture Study Awards. So that is another way that companies can now play a role.
These different ways of partnerships are all win-win partnerships because by getting involved, companies and firms will all benefit from a more highly-skilled and competitive workforce. So I encourage our companies and firms in the sector to come on board and support us in these manpower plans.
Today, we are sending a very strong signal to the industry because BCA and the Construction Industry Joint Committee, which represents key industry associations in the built environment sector, will be signing an MOU. This really shows our collective commitment to implement the Sectoral Manpower Plan together. I would like to thank all the associations, the firms who are now coming on board in taking on this MOU, joining us in the partnership, and I look forward to welcoming even more companies to come on board, to work together with us to create this exciting future for the built environment sector.
Finally to our scholars who are here, I want to say that this is just the start of an exciting journey for all of you.
Earlier I talked about how our pioneer architects, builders and engineers were the ones who helped to build today’s Singapore. There’s a saying that architects and engineers are among the most fortunate of people because they get to build their own monuments with public consent, public approval, and even public money! No other job allows you to do this, to build a physical monument in a very prime location perhaps, with public consent, public approval and public money, and it is there for everyone to see.
So all of you who are scholars here today are the lucky ones who will have the chance to shape Singapore’s built environment over the 50 years. You will get the chance to shape Singapore’s physical landscape, our built environment, over the next 50 years. So when you start work and in the course of your work, even if you have go through certain up and downs, you have to go through the daily grind, never lose sight of this purpose. Think of the physical legacy that you will get to leave behind. For example, today if you look around Singapore and you see a nice building, a bridge, a monument, you say this is a nice building, this is building that I really like, I wish I could have been involved in a project like this. Well you can get a chance to be involved in a project like this so that 50 years later, somebody can say that about a project that you were involved in. Think about the legacy that you want to leave behind in your lifetime. By continuing to work hard, you will not only be able to realise your dreams but you also contribute to a better Singapore in decades to come.
Finally, congratulations to all of you our scholars. I wish all of you the very best, and look forward to hearing of great things from all of you. Thank you very much.