From 24 March to 22 April, Frasers Property Singapore commemorated Environment Month with various initiatives such as organising coastal clean up sessions, hosting an upcycling workshop, and more.
This is the seventh year that marks Frasers Property Environment Month, a Groupwide community initiative that creates greater awareness about taking care of our planet. Spanning from Earth Hour to Earth Day, we organised tree-mendous eco-initiatives, to sow the seeds of eco-consciousness among our shoppers, tenants, employees and the community at large. It is our way of saying that we care about the Earth.
We have also been branching out to adopt sustainable practices across our properties, like reducing water consumption, promoting recycling, and using eco-friendly materials in our buildings. Here is a look at our initiatives in Singapore throughout this month.
#1 Go Blue with PUB for our Blue Planet
We are making a splash by supporting Public Utilities Board’s (PUB) #GoBlue4SG movement – a community-wide effort to conserve and safeguard our water resources. To kick-off our support for the movement, we switched off all non-essential water features across our commercial and retail properties on 22 March 2023. Tenants at our properties were invited to join in the flow and turn off any non-essential water features to help save our precious resources.
Century Square and Northpoint City lit up in blue in support of Singapore World Water Day.
In addition, Century Square and Northpoint City were awash with blue lights from 18 March to 22 March 2023 to raise awareness on the message of water conservation.
Our office tenants also joined in the flow and wore blue on Singapore World Water Day. Those that turned up in blue were treated to complimentary milk sponsored by PUB. We can all join hands and make a difference for our planet – one drop at a time!
#2 Let’s keep our shores clean
On 13 April, 40 employees, including Soon Su Lin, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Frasers Property Singapore, Low Chee Wah, CEO of Frasers Property Retail, and Jack Lam, Chief Operating Officer, Commercial, Frasers Property Singapore, rolled up their sleeves to clean up a stretch of East Coast Beach to do our part for the environment. Besides discarded cans and plastic bottles, the team also picked up a shipping rope and an abandoned foldable table.
Our commercial team also organised a separate coastal clean up session specially for their tenants on a Saturday morning.
Together, we collected close to 84kg of trash from both sessions.
#3 Turn trash to treasure
Upcycling is a great way to turn waste into something useful and beautiful, while also contributing to a circular economy. Our employees were treated to an interesting workshop on upcycling plastic waste and eco-friendly jesmonite into coasters which they can bring home. The participants were eager to unleash their creativity and create something special out of waste.
#4 Lights off to show love for Earth
At Frasers Property Singapore, we are always looking for ways to reduce our environmental impact and promote sustainable practices. This year, we took part in Earth Hour and pledged to World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Singapore in support of a climate-resilient planet.
Across our portfolio in Singapore, both commercial and retail properties turned off non-essential lighting for 60 minutes on 25 March. Our retail properties went the extra mile to turn off their façade lighting for three hours over a period of seven days. We also invited our tenants to join us in this movement by switching off their non-essential lighting and electrical appliances during Earth Hour. Together, we saved 4,539 kWh of energy which is enough to power an average electric vehicle (EV) car for 22,810km.
#5 Encouraging our communities to go green
Across our properties, we run various recycling initiatives throughout the year. For instance, Frasers Tower and Changi City Point teamed up with Soles4Souls to encourage our tenants, shoppers and employees to donate their pre-loved shoes to support victims of disaster and poverty. Each pair of shoes donated helps to give someone in need a chance to get back on their feet.
Since 2019, we partnered The Food Bank Singapore to tackle food waste. As part of the partnership, dedicated Food Bank donation boxes are placed at our commercial and retail properties to collect donated non-perishable food items. Being frequented community nodes, our properties serve as convenient locations for members of the public to donate food.
All donations are redistributed to households in need, through organisations such as Family Service Centres, soup kitchens, and other voluntary welfare organisations.
#6 Bringing sustainability closer to our home
Northpoint City held an exhibition ‘Happy Home Happy Earth’ from 10 March to 23 March where shoppers could browse through an array of ‘rooms’ with different informative displays on how they can lead a more sustainable lifestyle from the comfort of their home. From fun upcycling workshops to learning how to make simple electrical repairs, shoppers had a fun and engaging time learning how to incorporate sustainability in their everyday life.
Shoppers learnt how to lead a greener lifestyle during Northpoint City’s Happy Home Happy Earth Exhibition.
#7 FRx EcoPerks programme with DBS/POSB
The Frasers Experience (FRx) Eco-Perks programme launched by our retail team in partnership with DBS/POSB aims to promote eco-consciousness at our malls as a part of a wider initiative to contribute towards zero waste and carbon reduction in the long term.
Shoppers can start their eco-friendly journey and earn rewards by participating in eco-conscious activities at our malls. From exhibitions and food donation drives, to conscious dining and fashion swapping, fun and meaningful eco-living activities await at our malls in Singapore.
#8 Go Green to make a change
Our properties are built with sustainability in mind to help us reduce our carbon footprint and make a positive impact on the planet.
Hougang Mall is the latest property in our portfolio to be accredited with Building Construction Authority (BCA) Green Mark Platinum certification – the highest Green Mark certification rating – for existing non-residential buildings. Despite being a relatively older building (Hougang Mall is 26 years old this year), the mall has been made more energy and carbon efficient through upgrading and retrofitting.
Hougang Mall is the latest property in our portfolio to be green certified.
We retrofitted Hougang Mall’s existing cooling system to make it more energy efficient. Individual water-cooled package units serving certain tenants will also be removed and these units will be cooled by the new and improved chiller plant. The retrofitted chiller plant is expected to operate 34.4% more efficiently and save 1,000,000 kWh of energy annually. In addition, lights at common areas will be retrofitted with LEDs to have a lighting power improvement from the current 14% to 48.5% (comparing again Singapore Standards' baselines), saving 100,000 kWh of energy.
Through these initiatives, Hougang Mall has successfully reduced its annual carbon emissions by 395 tonnes of CO2e, as well as reduced its annual energy consumption by 968,000 kWh.
Other green properties in our portfolio include Frasers Tower, a BCA Green Mark Platinum office building that focuses on creating a green and sustainable workplace with environmentally-friendly features, as well as Sky Eden@Bedok, a BCA Green Mark GoldPLUS residential development, which offers homebuyers and urban oasis with lush landscaping and sky gardens next to each home.
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The journey towards sustainability is a long one and everyone has a role to play in protecting our planet. Beyond Environment Month, we will continue to develop more sustainable programmes and initiatives that involve our ecosystem of partners and employees. Let us give our planet some much-deserved attention and love. Whether you are planting a tree, taking a nature walk, or simply switching off your lights for an hour, every little bit counts. Together, let's build a net-zero community!