Singapore property developers and retail mall owners have been urged to think beyond just energy efficiency or cheaper utilities when it comes to being environmentally responsible. Experts say there is a lack of suppliers and contractors with the green mindset and skills.
And so, local players who go green as a way of life can become trend-setters.
According to international architects, going green goes beyond using natural lighting and energy-efficient water heaters.
And, they say, this means business opportunities for Singapore firms.
Toby Bath, Managing Director, HOK International (Asia Pacific), said: "The responsibility lies with the team from the beginning - from the design team and the owner and the operator.
"So we have to pick sustainable forest if we're going to use forestry. We have to try to recycle any of the construction material that's coming off the demolition of the site.
"There is a tremendous opportunity because of Singapore's position geographically for it to become a centre for sustainable green building design. Most of the projects are connected to transit, which is a fundamental starting point."
However, a major challenge lies in the limited number of service providers who can handle the green development process from cradle to cradle.
Mr Bath said: "You need to have design professionals who are very familiar with the procedure you have to go through in a collaborative design approach. There're very few of those here in Singapore at the present time.
"And the contracting industry also isn't quite yet geared up to doing a green sustainable design building. They need to avoid the use of landfills, they need to recycle all the materials and source materials from special sources. So that's a very new thing."
The Building Construction Authority (BCA) is now working on passing a law to make all new buildings in Singapore meet the basic environment requirements, after introducing a Green Mark award in 2005 to urge local players to go green.
John Keung, CEO, BCA, said: "We have probably 60 buildings that's under green mark. So green mark buildings are energy efficient buildings and also make use of clean energy, it saves water, it is processed in its operation. Going forward, we have a series of programmes to raise the awareness further."
The agency announced earlier this week that some local buildings will be used to test and develop environmentally-friendly technologies as part of the government's initiative to invest S$17 million over the next 5 years for new ideas in the field. - CNA/ch
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