Alexandra Point has won the Leadership in Design & Performance Award (Commercial) at the Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC)-Building and Construction Authority (BCA) Sustainability Leadership Awards.
Brandon Teo, Senior Centre Manager for Alexandra Point (second from right), receiving the award at the SGBC-BCA Gala Dinner from Guest of Honour, National Development Minister Lawrence Wong, during the Awards Ceremony.
The SGBC-BCA Sustainability Leadership Awards celebrates the achievements of local companies and green building projects who are leading the way in sustainability.
Said Ms Alison Wong, General Manager (Commercial Properties), “This win reflects Frasers Centrepoint Singapore’s commitment to build sustainable developments through conscientious and pioneering design, and to deliver positive value for people through the spaces we create and manage. We are proud of our achievement because it is not easy for older buildings to attain this award. Newer buildings tend to already be built and fitted with updated sustainability features, whereas with older developments, much more work is required to update its fittings and infrastructure.”
Green initiatives at Alexandra Point
At all Frasers Centrepoint Singapore buildings, there are clear guidelines and policies to help improve energy efficiency, and to reduce water consumption and waste generation in our building operations.
Alexandra Point is fitted with a highly efficient air conditioning system, energy efficient lighting system and water fittings. About 90% of our office equipment at Alexandra Point are energy efficient (Energy Star labelled).
Commenting on other greening efforts at Alexandra Point, Ms Wong shared, “Tenants and staff also collaborate to reduce energy and water consumption. Beyond building design, we promote resource conservation and recycling among staff through educational green talks, guides and educational posters.”
This is not the first accolade for the 24-storey Alexandra Point. The property was also awarded the BCA Green Mark Platinum Award in 2014.
Older buildings such as Alexandra Point, which has been around since 1992, should begin green and sustainable initiatives at the early design stage to promote enduring maintainability and sustainability.
Ms Wong explained, ”For instance, making provisions for access to maintenance and paying greater attention to the performance of building materials and equipment, can help minimise the occurrence of building defects and cut back on unnecessary resources required to fullfil the maintenance needs throughout the building lifecycle.”
Challenges do emerge when implementing sustainable initiatives in older buildings. Ms Wong’s team shared a significant example from Alexandra Point’s asset enhancement initiative.
“Our team, together with our contractors have to work around the existing building infrastructure/ legacy systems and develop cost-effective solutions to upgrade our buildings while ensuring minimal disruptions and inconvenience to our tenants.
The replacement of the chilled water system and air handling units (AHU) at Alexandra Point was one of the toughest asset enhancement initiatives carried out so far. It involved extensive site surveys to plan for the transportation of new AHUs to the respective floors for installation as well as dismantling of existing AHUs.
The transportation of new AHUs to the respective floors was also labor-intensive due to the existing building infrastructure.
The replacement of AHUs took approximately 15 weeks to complete and the entire asset enhancement initiative took approximately six months to fine tune and eventually complete. However, the project enabled us to achieve a significant improvement in chiller plant system efficiency from 0.88kw/RT before replacement to less than 0.6kw/RT after retrofit.”
Future plans
Even after achieving the sustainability criteria, Frasers Centrepoint Singapore continues to invest time and effort to improve their green initiatives.
Added Ms Wong, “A corporate directive was set up last year to ensure that our staff undergo a minimum of 40 hours of training within the financial year to achieve continuous improvement at all levels of the organisation through the enhancement of skills, the gathering and sharing of knowledge. Training schedules and relevant customised trainings have been planned, together with site visits, seminars and talks for our staff.
With constant advancements in technology, Frasers Centrepoint Singapore will continue to identify and implement more green features whenever possible. Our Facilities Management team is equipped with adequate knowledge and a good understanding of the latest technological capabilities for implementing more green features.”
To view Lianhe Zaobao’s feature on the awards, please click here.