Speech by SMS Desmond Lee at BCA-Industry Built Environment Undergraduate/Diploma Scholarship Award Ceremony

Aug 4, 2016

A very good afternoon. Let me begin by congratulating all 158 scholarship recipients. You have indeed chosen well. A career in the built environment sector is exciting and rewarding. Especially for the older members of the audience here today, you would have seen how meticulous planning and execution have transformed our island into a modern City in a Garden – how things change, and change so rapidly for the better. So look at our skyline, our parks, green spaces, the rejuvenation of our public housing and heartlands, and our heritage buildings, and so much more. 

It does not stop here. The sector is exciting precisely because it never stands still. We will continue to build on our environment and our city to bring our home into the future. Let me give you just a few examples of the exciting projects that are in the pipeline - they are coming in the near and distant future, and they will bring Singapore to a different level. 

First, we will transform the Jurong Lake District into our second CBD. The Southern Waterfront City will happen when the port moves to Tuas, and it frees up a lot of land and imagination takes hold. That is where your creativity will come in - for design, architecture, construction, technology - to make our Southern Waterfront City something that we are all proud of. Paya Lebar Airbase occupies a large area in Singapore, as a result the surrounding estates and developments have height restrictions. But once that moves, Paya Lebar becomes an open canvas and the surrounding developments are then able to rejuvenate and maybe intensify and grow even higher. The Singapore-Kuala Lumpur High Speed Rail and Changi Airport Terminal 5 will further cement Singapore’s position as a global transportation hub. 

TECHNOLOGY 

It is true that Singapore has limited land. But this will not stop us; and it has not. Singapore was some 500 over square kilometres in the past, and we expanded our land area by 20 over percent over the last few decades through foresight and long term planning by our pioneer leaders. We reclaimed land for homes, recreation and jobs from the sea. Technology will be our enabler going forward, using cutting edge methods to build taller, deeper, and to build better and greener. We will also build cleaner and smarter, using less time and manpower. 

In fact, we are already doing this. With advanced pre-fabrication and pre-casting technology, we can build elements off site and assemble them block by block – like LEGO. This is one of the high productivity innovative ways of construction that we are now working on. There may be other types of technologies and methodologies that will come our way, and a lot of it will be for you as young scholars and eventually our new pioneers, to help our whole sector transform. What I spoke about, LEGO construction or PPVC, it sounds playful, but the method actually reduces manpower by up to 40 per cent! It is cleaner, the quality could be much better, there could be less wastage, less disamenity to your neighbours as you construct. In the past you build in-situ, you cast in-situ; it is a lot of work on the site, you build level by level, and then you bring in your M&E, you come and do the air-con ducting, do the wallpapering, the tiling, put in the facilities – fans, air conditioning, but all this can now be done in a factory. The whole room is ready, and I am told that one PPVC module manufacturer even puts the art work on the wall for you, together with the curtains. It just arrives and you put it on, you connect the pipes and the wires, and you’re ready to move in. Such is the state of the art. 

Another example is Mass Engineered Timber Construction such as Cross Laminated Timber, or CLT. It not only allows us to build faster and use less manpower, it is also more environmentally friendly and sustainable. Some of you might know that the production and use of mass timber generates half the carbon footprint of concrete. Some of you will be studying in NTU or are already studying there - you can look forward to a new sports hall made of Cross Laminated Timber this year! 

Now, we are also building underground as we develop an Underground Masterplan for Singapore. Let me share with you a remarkable piece of machinery known as the rectangular tunnel boring machine. It looks small, but it is a huge piece of machinery. It allows us to create tunnels with minimal disruption to the surface as compared to the traditional cut and cover methods – which means you cut open, you excavate all the earth, it is exposed the underground, you then tunnel through, and then you cover it back. 

But technology, of course, means very little if it does not impact people’s lives for the better. So it is not just about the buildings, but the users of these buildings that you will create. We will need to respond to challenges such as an ageing population, climate change, sea-level rise, and these will affect us here in Singapore in a very direct way. We will need to ensure environmental sustainability through buildings that are energy efficient. 

Technology does not stand still so we will continually push the boundaries of innovation. Even as you do your course of study, you will find that the state of the art keeps changing. By the time you graduate, what may be new at the start of your course may well be established by the time you graduate, or even be passé. And in that aspect, innovation-wise, the Government has to do its part and is doing so. 

BCA has recently set up the Built Environment Research and Innovation Institute, or BERII, to help come up with bold solutions to raise construction productivity. There are already many exciting innovations, such as a 3D Building Information Modelling, or BIM, and Virtual Design and Construction, or VDC. 

With all this technology we can build virtually first, before actually doing so on the ground, and then we can fix problems ahead of time. This makes construction that much more efficient and high tech. 

The use of BIM, which has been rolled out the last couple of years, and we still need to push because it needs the entire industry - architects, designers, engineers, contractors - and the whole sector in fact, to change gears and to change the way we work, in order to embrace BIM and the technology and opportunities it offers. The use of BIM now extends beyond the construction phase, beyond just using it for building. Predictive BIM, or predictive building information modelling, uses the BIM model – which is the 3D model of the building, and the data you gather sensors that you can now put in building, to model and to adjust building parameters. What it means is that you have a 3D model, you have sensors in the building, you can measure things like the flow of people, measure the temperature, measure humidity, measure all sorts of things, and then do some prediction using computer modelling. For example, with predictive BIM, self-learning controls or automated controls can optimise indoor environment quality. This will eliminate air-conditioning that is either too cold or too hot – just one example, prediction of building atmospheric conditions so that it becomes a smart building. 

On-site, technology can perform monotonous tasks and free up manpower. In the past, workers would have to climb up scaffolding and use equipment to paint the exterior of buildings, or gondolas. These are manpower intensive, conditions are not great because it is under the scorching sun, and we need workers. What you see here is a drone that is able to then very accurately and safely deliver paint and coating to the exterior of buildings. The person who is doing the work, in the past, would be a lower skilled worker working hard no doubt to paint the building. But now it is a high tech job, manipulating controls, maybe even remotely, to get the job done. A laborious task like spray painting can be done more efficiently and smartly using available technology today. 

Two weeks ago, Prime Minister launched BCA’s SkyLab. This 360-degree rotatable laboratory, the whole building can rotate, is the first of its kind in the world. The lab rotates to replicate different building conditions to test technologies under real world conditions, not lab conditions. For example, technologies including air-cooling, sun-shading and lighting can all be tested in this laboratory. And it is a place for academics and industry to come together to test-bed ideas, and to commercialise successful ones. 

MEANINGFUL CAREERS 

Embracing these technologies also allows us, above all, to create new opportunities, new careers, new niches for young people like you. Bright, earnest, hardworking, technologically-savvy - this is the world for you. The industry that now is will transform, and we need people like you to come and bring this sector to a different level. These types of building methods, and those that will come after them, will require an entire eco-system of highly skilled professionals. They also require a major paradigm shift in mind-set and working style. Not just of individual professionals, not just of any particular professional, but the entire sector. It is an extremely challenging task, and in a way, it will be pioneering work for your generation. 

It will not always be easy or smooth sailing. In fact it is challenging and difficult, it is an arduous road; so we will need people like you to make this happen. In a sense, you will be part of a generation that pioneers this change and transition in the way we design, conceptualise, plan and build our City in a Garden. 

Once again, the Government is doing its part. For instance, BCA partners industry to offer joint scholarships. Since 2013, we have given a total of 1,700 scholarships and sponsorships to local talent who enrol in built environment related disciplines. 

I am really happy to see so many deserving scholarship recipients today. Let me just highlight a few. 

Aqilah Binti Alwi, currently in her third year at Singapore Polytechnic, is pursuing a diploma in Architecture. Before entering polytechnic, she studied Civil and Structural Engineering Design in the ITE under a BCA-Industry Built Environment ITE scholarship. Today, we are happy to announce that Aqilah’s sponsorship firm, S A Chua Architects Pte Ltd, has now offered her a Diploma Scholarship to take it to different levels. Congratulations to Aqilah! 

We also have with us Han Zhengguang, a BCA-Tiong Seng Built Environment undergraduate scholar, currently in his third year of Civil Engineering at the NUS. Zhengguang had already done an internship with his sponsor firm, Tiong Seng, and I understand he was working on a JTC project that used some of the game-changing technologies I just outlined earlier. Wonderful job! 

I would be remiss if I did not mention BCA’s Young Leaders Programme, or YLP. It is a wonderful platform to groom young leaders, young people, from both the public and private sectors. We have one of them, Kah Huay, with us today. She received her BCA-CDL Built Environment undergraduate scholarship in 2008, a couple of years ago, and she went on to partake in this YLP. I encourage you to get on it. Kah Huay will be part of the Green Building Taskforce, and she will, together with her colleagues, look into developing energy efficient solutions for our buildings. Many of you may also be identified and nominated by your respective firms to participate in the YLP at some point in your careers. Welcome it – it is a good opportunity to do something at a different level. 

I would also be remiss if I did not commend all the companies that have offered scholarships and support to young Singaporeans interested in this sector. I can only hope that by example more firms will come forward to partner BCA in this Government-industry relationship that can only benefit young people, and can only benefit our sector and our homes. Come forward, partner BCA, partner us, and help us build a core of Singaporean talent in the Built Environment sector. 

Let me end off with a quote that PM penned recently on his Facebook page as a message to younger Singaporeans. 

He said, and I quote, “Your dreams today can become your passions tomorrow. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, because that’s the beauty of being young. You can experiment, try things out, and discover what you can be. The future often looks daunting, but go forth and create your own!” 

I think that is wonderful advice. The scholarship you receive today is a stepping stone to realising your dreams. The sum of your hard work and also the strong support that your parents have given to you over the years. Today is much a celebration for them as it is for all of you. 

I wish all of you the best of luck as you seize the opportunities open to you. I am sure in future we will visit some high tech site or project, and see some of you there in hard hats or behind the mouse, showing us the best that science and technology can offer to make the lives of your fellow Singaporeans even better. 

With that, congratulations once again, and I look forward to meeting you later. Thank you.