Speech by 2M Indranee Rajah at the Real Estate Developers’ Association Of Singapore’s Mid-Autumn Celebration
Sep 29, 2023
Mr Tan Swee Yiow
President, REDAS
Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen
Introduction
1. I would like to thank REDAS for inviting me to join your annual Mid-Autumn Celebration this afternoon.
2. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a part of our heritage and cultural traditions and it is also a time for families to gather and celebrate together. I am very honoured to be here with the REDAS family and be part of your celebrations.
3. The real estate development sector has played a critical role in transforming Singapore’s landscape over the decades.
a. In our early years as an independent nation, Singapore’s housing landscape largely comprised rural kampongs and overcrowded shophouses.
b. However, over the years, through collaborative efforts, we have built a thriving metropolis that is both our home and a global city.
c. The Government launched an ambitious housing programme, we cleaned up our streets, and rejuvenated our city centre.
d. And it was developers like yourselves who contributed by building beautiful homes and iconic commercial developments.
e. Today, we are one of the world’s most liveable cities and that is something we can all rightly be proud of, because we achieved it by working together.
Writing the Next Chapter
4. We must now look to writing the next chapter for ourselves, and for Singapore. This is part of Forward SG.
5. To do this well, we need to understand how Singaporeans’ needs and aspirations are changing, and to develop strategies to overcome new challenges.
6. What are some of the changing trends that we must contend with?
7. First, our population demographics are changing. With it, Singaporeans’ housing needs and aspirations are evolving. This means our urban environment must evolve as well.
a. As one of the world’s fastest-ageing nations, we are expanding the housing plus care options for seniors, so that they can age well within the community.
i. For example, MND, MOH, and HDB collaborated to develop Community Care Apartments, a public housing typology that combines senior-friendly housing with scalable care services based on individual care needs. Following the positive response from the first two sites at Bukit Batok and Queensway, we are developing a pipeline of Community Care Apartments in different locations across Singapore, and the next one will be launched in Bedok later this year.
ii. We are also seeing how the private sector can come in to innovate assisted living models that can cater to seniors’ diverse preferences and lifestyles. Earlier this year, URA and MOH launched our first private assisted living site at Parry Avenue.
b. Next, household sizes are getting smaller. Unlike the past where large families lived under one roof, today we have fewer multi-generation households living together. Many young singles wish to move out earlier and live independently.
i. During our Forward Singapore engagements, many singles told us they aspire to own or rent a place of their own because they value privacy, freedom, and autonomy. We have also heard interesting ideas on how to address these aspirations while balancing our space constraints. One of the ideas thrown up is co-living typologies, where people have their own space, but share communal facilities and be part of a community.
ii. As developers, you will doubtless have new and innovative ideas on how to meet these changing aspirations. Being at the forefront of property development, you hear first-hand what Singaporeans are looking for, what international trends are and the experience to tell what works and what doesn’t. I do encourage you to work with us to develop innovative new solutions to meet these changing needs.
8. Second, COVID-19 has fundamentally changed the way we think about work. Post-pandemic, some employers and business entities have continued to adopt work arrangements that were initiated during the pandemic, such as telecommuting and flexible work arrangements. Such FWAs are increasingly becoming important to employees and hence a crucial part of employers’ talent recruitment and retention.
a. These changing work patterns have allowed us to optimise our urban infrastructure, by spreading out human traffic across the day.
b. But more importantly, the rise of these trends gives us a chance to re-think how we plan and structure our city to facilitate the lifestyle we envision for ourselves.
c. Rather than clustering most activities within the city centre, we envision having multiple attractive job nodes spread out across the island, so that people can work closer to home. These job nodes will be convenient and vibrant spaces for living and working that are seamlessly integrated with amenities.
i. URA recently released a 6.5-hectare White site in Jurong Lake District to kickstart its development into the largest business district outside of the Central Area. Jurong Lake District’s work campuses will be within easy reach of retail, cafes, restaurants, schools, and homes. It will also have more than 100 hectares of park and greenery. Beyond Jurong, sites with office quantum have also been released on the Government Land Sales reserve lists in Punggol Town Centre and Woodlands Central.
ii. These nodes outside of the central area will give Singaporeans more job options and work spaces, while reducing their commuting time. Do join us to shaping these new districts and bring innovative ideas that you may have to life.
9. Third, we need to green our buildings and our city to tackle climate change and meet our net zero ambitions.
a. Buildings account for around 20% of Singapore’s emissions – that’s quite a lot. Hence reducing our buildings’ emissions will be critical if we are to meet our net-zero by 2050 target.
b. Many efforts are underway to green our buildings. As developers, you play a pivotal role in driving these efforts. I encourage you to take the lead and drive the adoption of Super Low Energy (SLE) buildings in the private sector.
i. Not only do SLE buildings make environmental sense, they also make financial sense. Developers and building owners can expect to recoup their investment in a new commercial building that has achieved Green Mark SLE standards within 4.5 to 6.5 years.
ii. The building will also continue to generate long-term energy cost savings.
10. So these trends and priorities I have highlighted are important considerations that we will into account as we embark on the review of the Master Plan later this year.
a. The Master Plan will guide Singapore’s development over the next 10 to 15 years. We look forward to your active participation and feedback as we work together to develop our vision for Singapore. We will share more details of the Masterplan soon.
Pushing forward with sector transformation
11. As we build our future city, towns, and homes together, we must ensure we have the capability to do so. A strong Built Environment (BE) sector is a prerequisite.
12. We must accelerate our transformation efforts to reduce our reliance on foreign manpower and combat climate change. This cannot be done by individual companies acting alone. There are many interdependencies across the entire construction value chain, and it can be difficult for firms to embark on transformation on their own. To succeed, change must be sector wide.
13. This is why we have embarked on a value-chain approach under the Built Environment Industry Transformation Map (BE ITM).
14. Developers play a key role as service buyers, and we have launched several schemes to support you and your partners in delivering projects with transformative outcomes.
a. One example is the BE Transformation Bonus Gross Floor Area (GFA) Scheme, where private developments outside of the Government Land Sales (GLS) programme can enjoy up to 3% bonus GFA if they achieve enhanced standards in productivity, digitalisation, sustainability, and quality.
b. We have also introduced the Growth and Transformation Scheme (GTS), which supports alliances of firms to pursue best-in-class transformation outcomes, with a longer-term view of collaboration across multiple projects.
15. So I call on you to take the lead to rally your project stakeholders to push the boundaries, and achieve deep transformation across your value chains. Your support and active collaboration is essential for us to achieve these goals for Singapore.
Conclusion
16. Thank you all for your good work. I hope that your sector will continue to progress and do well even as you help us to shape our future Singapore.
17. I wish you and your families a very happy Mid-Autumn festival.
18. Thank you.