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Surbana Corporation: From Mass Housing to Iconic Buildings Summit Residences, China (PRC) Al Salam City – UAE Faced with the prospect of looming competition on its home turf of Singapore and armed with a 40-year track record in public housing building and design, the folks at Surbana had to quickly learn the ropes of securing business in a competitive environment. The task was made even more daunting when the Singapore government imposed a ‘non-compete condition’ on Surbana in exchange for guaranteed projects from HDB over a period of four years. It was no consolation that between 2002 and 2006, HDB ‘new build’ numbers were stagnating, as the supply of houses outstripped demand in the then shrinking economy. Unfazed by the challenges ahead and leveraging on its Singapore experience, Surbana set out exporting its planning and design expertise to the world. IN 2003, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Singapore, Mr Lee Hsien Loong announced in his national Budget Speech that the government will, as part of measures to facilitate entrepreneurship, progressively stop providing services that the private sector can supply. A few months later, on 1 July 2003, the public housing authority, Housing and Development Board (HDB), announced that its Building and Development Division was to be re-organised and HDB Corporation Pte Ltd (HDBCorp) would be created. Of the 3,000 personnel affected, 900 chose early retirement, while 1,300 urban planners, architects, engineers, project managers, quantity surveyors and site supervisors joined HDBCorp. The birth of HDBCorp signaled the beginning of Surbana Corporation (Surbana). The next three years following the re-organisation was an exciting one: HDBCorp was acquired by Temasek Holdings, the government’s investment vehicle and re-branded to Surbana Corporation. Surbana went on to build a township in Chengdu, China and to provide its full suite of planning, building design and construction management services to places as far flung as the Middle East and South Africa. Exporting Surbana’s Expertise Today, Surbana boasts a track record of having clinched projects in more than 45 cities across 14 countries. Some of the services that Surbana has exported include master planning for regional governments, architectural and engineering design, project management and supervision. With regional offices in Shanghai, Chengdu, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh City and Abu Dhabi, Surbana has made its mark and staked its future on the growing economies of Asia and the Middle East. The year 2006 marked an important milestone in Surbana’s history, as the first keys to the completed apartments of the middle-income Chengdu Botanica Township were handed to buyers, thus replicating its success story in Singapore housing and township development. Riding on the wave of Botanica’s Phase One sell-out success, Surbana moved quickly to acquire land in the cities of Wuxi and Xian to build about 40,000 homes over the next decade. In January 2007, Surbana held a ground-breaking ceremony for its prestigious Royal Complex mixed-use development project in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Costing US$214 million to develop, the development by the water-front prime district is scheduled for completion by January 2010. In addition, Surbana’s award winning Grand Corniche Hotel, designed to reflect Abu Dhabi’s maritime heritage, is also targeted for completion in December 2009. To be built at an approximate cost of AED 370 million (US $100 million), this sleek 35-storey structure will house a luxury hotel, serviced apartments and a retail podium. Surbana is gaining wide-recognition for its diverse regional portfolio, and has won many local and international awards. The company’s architectural designs have won a number of international competitions including an Excellence Award for the ecological master planning of Taihu (Tongzhou). Surbana was also bestowed the highest honour in the architectural arena by earning three awards for the public sector category of the internationally recognised Fiabci Prix d’Excellence in 2006. In Singapore, Surbana was recognised and awarded the 2006 BCI Asia Top-10 leading Architectural firms in Singapore and also won two HDB Design Excellence Awards in 2006. Refocusing on Home Market Surbana’s ability to deliver a full suite of services and its reputation for quality delivery is not lost on its clients. Most of the expertise in designing and building the more than 900,000 homes that house about 85% of Singapore’s population resides with Surbana today. No other organisation can boast of that track record, and only a few have the in-house expertise to provide a one-stop, integrated ● From page 1 already has. Town planners have intensified land use by locating various facilities together instead of placing them separately. For example, storm-water collection ponds are located under road flyovers, and train stations and bus stations are built over each other. Singapore, thanks to its perennial quest for efficient town planning, has perfected a system (which can help builders and town planners in developing countries such as India, Vietnam, the Middle East and China) to find answers to pressing questions like creating adequate public housing, a clean environment, an efficient public transport system, and effective country-wide sanitation and waste-disposal systems. For example, Singapore acts as a catalyst for India’s foreign trade because Singapore is a strategic business hub for an estimated 6,000 Indian companies. Singapore is also India’s largest trading partner among the ASEAN member countries. The Indo-Singapore bilateral trade touched 16.6 billion Singapore dollars in December 2005. This trade volume is expected to increase substantially approach to development from site planning, land surveying, architectural and engineering design to contract and project management and supervision. Being a Temasek-linked company has also helped to open doors to overseas projects as foreign governments recognise the well-respected Singaporean system that offers efficiency, integrity and effectiveness. Surbana’s management recognises the challenges ahead, so it is sparing no effort in changing perceptions and promoting Surbana’s capabilities beyond just public housing projects. Indeed, Surbana has shown itself capable of more diverse designs such as iconic projects in the Middle East, retail malls in India and luxury homes in Shanghai. Besides providing the full gamut of building consultancy services, Surbana has also carved itself a niche in water-front development projects. For example, Surbana’s reclamation and infrastructure team was responsible for reclaiming most of Singapore’s eastern and northern shores, including the now highly sought after Marina Bay Financial Centre. Surbana also had a hand in building the Marina South Pier, which replaced the downtown Clifford Pier passenger ferry terminal, and the company also completed reclamation and infrastructure works for the Southern Islands, which is touted as Singapore’s newest playground for the jet-setting rich. Surbana’s consultancy arm, Surbana International Consultants, is hoping to emulate the same degree of success in its home market of Singapore as it has overseas. As of July 2007, Surbana will be free to compete for Singapore projects. The timing could not be better as the construction industry has shown strong growth, even though it is still a far cry from the pre-Asian financial crisis of S$24.4 billion in 1997. With the award of two integrated resorts, a new sports hub, ramped–up public housing programmes and more government land sales expected, there should be enough projects to keep many companies busy. While Surbana may have an edge in gaining market share in public sector projects, being thoroughly familiar with the government procurement process, landing jobs in the highly competitive private sector will not be as easy. ❏ with the signing of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA). While the marketing efforts of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) have ensured that Singapore is a must-see for many Indians (and PRC Chinese) planning holidays abroad, it is a propitious time for Indian companies to tap the exciting infrastructure possibilities that the vibrant city-state has to offer. Singapore companies are keen to offer their expertise in areas such as master planning of townships, architectural designs and construction. Singapore brands are also looking for partners to distribute or market their products abroad, especially in India, Vietnam, the Middle East and China (PRC). In the areas such as intelligent building systems, security surveillance systems or traffic control systems, Singapore has world-class companies, which could provide transfer of technology and infrastructuredevelopment knowledge abroad. ❏ This article was submitted by IE Singapore. 2 <strong>ICA</strong> Volume 1 Issue 1 2007
Water Sustainability While reams of newsprint have been devoted already to the Mumbai, India authorities’ efforts to clean up the Mithi River, the highly developed city-state of Singapore is putting together a high-level plan to market its waste-water technology globally. Singapore’s Ministry of Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) has recently set up the Environment and Water Industry Development Council (EWI) to spearhead the growth of the environmental and water industry in Singapore. The government plans to develop Singapore as a global hub for environment and water for business, investment, research and technology. SINGAPORE targets to grow value-added contribution from the water sector from $0.5 billion (0.3% of GDP) in 2003 to $1.7 billion (0.6% of GDP) by 2015. Jobs for this sector are expected to double to about 11,000 in 2015 with a large part of the growth in professional and skilled categories. According to the MEWR’s website EWI, the on-going efforts of other governmental agencies such as EDB; IE Singapore; the Agency for Science, Technology & Research; National Environment Agency (NEA); Nanyang Technological University (NTU); and National University of Singapore (NUS) will: • Attract more companies to locate their operations in Singapore • Help local companies to grow • Encourage more companies and research institutes to develop cutting-edge water technology and • Further export Singapore’s capabilities to growing markets, especially in the Middle East and China Potential for Growth With the growing global emphasis on water and the environment, Singapore is well placed to take the lead in this industry as an R&D base, and also as a provider of water solutions. To meet the country’s water challenges, Singapore has been investing heavily in water-related research and technology for the last four decades, and it has developed excellent capabilities in the field of water management. With the development of major national water projects such as NEWater, the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System and Marina Barrage, Singapore has turned its vulnerability in terms of water into a strength; this has resulted in a thriving water industry eco-system with more than 50 international and local companies in existence. Clean Land In Singapore, the waste disposed goes into incineration plants or into landfills. If the current volume of waste keeps increasing, Singapore will need to build large incineration plants and find new places for landfills. In land-scarce Singapore, where land is required for schools, houses and other uses, this is not a sustainable option. To address this issue, the strategies of volume-reduction by incineration, waste recycling, reducing land-filled waste, and waste minimisation have been identified. Currently, about 90% of the waste is incinerated, while the remaining non-incinerable waste is land-filled. However, the demand for land-fill is still too high. Hence, there is a need for recycling efforts (like the National Recycling Programme introduced in 2001), and a need for trying to find useful applications for incineration ash. It is also important for consumers and producers to minimise the amount of waste generated. Solid Waste Management With limited resources available for waste disposal, the National Environment Agency’s (NEA) policy for waste management necessitates the incineration of all incinerable waste that is not recovered, reused or recycled. Non-incinerable waste such as concrete slabs, bulky waste materials and incineration ashes are disposed of at the offshore Semakau Land-fill. Core Strategies for Sustainability • Minimise waste through reducing, reusing and recycling to ensure long term sustainability • Towards zero landfill • Develop the recycling industry and position Singapore as a centre for recycling technology in the region Clean Water Water is a scarce and precious resource because as a small island city-state with an increasing demand for water, Singapore has to make every drop count. Rainwater that falls within the catchments areas is collected in reservoirs. Today, about half the area of Singapore is being utilised as catchments for rainwater collection. With plans to build more reservoirs, drains and canals, the local catchments will be expanded to about two-thirds of the island. Even as we increase sources, it is also important to keep water demand low. Core Strategies for Water Sustainability • Enhance robustness and resilience of water supply sources • Develop effective water-demand management strategies • Build up a vibrant water industry • Encourage greater private sector participation • Study and explore alternative policies, technologies and strategies to ensure long-term sustainability of Singapore’s water supply Public Health Singapore’s public health record is enviable. The country is respected internationally for its high standard of public health. It is one of only two Southeast Asian countries recognised by the World Health Organisation as having eradicated malaria (the other country is Brunei Darussalam). Cases of serious food-related illnesses, such as cholera and typhoid fever, which usually result from poor sanitation and low food hygiene standards, have been kept at a minimum. In 2003, there was only one local case of cholera and three cases of typhoid. This is no mean feat as Singapore is an ‘open city’, situated in a region that is endemic for various tropical diseases such as dengue fever and malaria. With so many people, ships, vehicles and aircraft coming and going across Singapore’s borders each day, and with the increasing numbers of new and mutated viruses in circulation, the country maintains its vigilance to prevent major outbreaks of known and potential diseases. Its high health standard has been achieved with the co-operation of the wider community and the country’s private sector. This article was contributed by IE Singapore. Water treatment facility <strong>ICA</strong> Volume 1 Issue 1 2007 3
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