On 17 September 2021, we marked the fruition of engagement and ideas from the second edition of Inclusive Spaces, our community investment initiative for greater accessibility in the built environment. Aligned with our purpose of ‘Inspiring experiences, creating places for good’, we want to make a positive impact on the overall quality of life by offering enriching experiences through the places we build and operate.
As Singapore faces a greying population, the need to have more spaces and programmes that promote better well-being in our seniors is becoming more pressing. Through this initiative, we want to connect the youth to the seniors and facilitate an exchange of insights and ideas for the built environment. By encouraging and nurturing the empathic qualities in our youth, we hope to have their creativity to develop real estate solutions which promote the well-being of our Merdeka Generation.
Building an inclusive society require all parties -- companies like Frasers Property, the government and the community -- to come together to listen, engage and work together. As a real estate developer, we recognise that we are in a position to drive such conversations and inspire the community to contribute better ideas, better solutions for the built environment.
Seeing the creativity and energy of children with their ideas truly underscores the benefit of intergenerational dialogue, which gives the youths greater insights into the challenges and aspirations that the seniors have for the built environment.
One of the exemplary examples of great partnership between Frasers Property and the community is our shopping mall Northpoint City. It is Singapore’s first mall to house a community club administered by the People’s Association. In addition to that and its wide range of retail and dining options, it boasts a public library and a town plaza. All these have been thoughtfully integrated as part of our efforts to bring the concept of a 15-minute city to life, offering an integrated hub where one can live, work, play… a space to appreciate community bonding.
The team at the mall also underwent a “Forget Us Not” training programme which equips them with the know-hows to provide a safe and comfortable environment for people with dementia and their caregivers. Across our malls in Singapore, we offer a free wheelchair rental service that aims to improve the independent mobility of wheelchair users. Certainly, there is more that we can do. Hence, our focus on the elderly whom many continue to have fruitful, purposeful and very active lives as we hear from their sharings at Inclusive Spaces.
Our efforts to partner the community in co-creating more inclusive real estate spaces do not stop in Singapore. We plan to bring Inclusive Spaces as a concept to more of our key markets. With so much happening with the pandemic, we recognise our efforts at resilience building via Diversity & Inclusion initiatives are so important to our business and society.