CityDev-Led Group Wins Beach Rd Site For $1.7b

Source : The Business Times, September 10, 2007

SINGAPORE - Singapore said on Monday that a group led by property firm City Developments (CityDev) had clinched a 3.5-ha downtown land site for $1.69 billion (US$1.11 billion).

CityDev had teamed with Dubai state investor Istithmar and Israeli developer Elad for the bid, the Urban Redevelopment Authority said in a statement.

Other bidders included CapitaLand, Hong Kong's Cheung Kong (Holdings) and Keppel Land.

The site will be developed into an office, retail and hotel complex. -- REUTERS

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URA News Release
10 September 2007

Award of tender of site for commecial development at Beach Road

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) today awarded the tender for the commercial sale site at Beach Road to a consortium comprising Scottsdale Properties Pte. Ltd. (a subsidiary company of City Developments Limited), Istithmar Beach Road Fze and Elad Group Singapore Pte. Ltd.

Land Parcel at Beach Road

The 3.5 ha Land Parcel at Beach Road is bounded by Beach Road, Bras Basah Road, Nicoll Highway and Middle Road and occupies a prime and highly strategic nodal location within Singapore’s Downtown. It is located at the crossroads of two distinctive and vibrant districts within the city centre - Marina Centre and the Civic District.

The Marina Centre area is Singapore’s key convention and hotel hub with a number of major hotel developments - Ritz-Carlton Millenia, Marina Mandarin, Pan Pacific and The Oriental together with the Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre. The Civic District is home to many of Singapore’s historical buildings and places - the former Supreme Court and City Hall, War Memorial Park and the Padang and the world-renowned Raffles Hotel. Raffles City, another well-established major commercial development, is also located nearby.

Being a complete streetblock in a strategic location, the site offers a unique and attractive opportunity for a high-quality mixed-use development to be built that can contribute significantly to the urban character and enhance the streetscape and vibrancy in this part of the city. With its prominent location, the future development will also form a key component of the city skyline and will be highly visible from major approaches to the city, e.g. along Nicoll Highway, as well as from key public open spaces and buildings within the Civic District including the Padang, War Memorial Park and around Marina Bay.

The site includes four conservation buildings along Beach Road – the former NCO Club building and Block 1, 9 and 14 of the former Beach Road Camp – which are to be restored for adaptive reuse. Thus, the site offers an opportunity to create a distinctive development featuring a well-considered and innovative blend of conserved and new buildings.

Located directly adjacent to the Circle Line Esplanade MRT station, the future development will enjoy convenient access to the rail network. In addition, the future development will also be seamlessly connected via a comprehensive underground pedestrian network to the nearby City Hall MRT Interchange Station.

The success and appeal of the future development depends on the developer’s ability to conceptualise an outstanding development that will commensurate with the prominent location and creatively capitalise on all the attributes of the site.


Two-envelope tender

The Government has adopted a two-envelope tender system to ensure that the development at the Beach Road site will meet the high standards expected for the site. Under this system, tenderers were required to submit their concept proposals and tender prices in two separate envelopes for evaluation. The concept proposals were first evaluated by a Concept Evaluation Committee (CEC) based on a set of evaluation criteria specified in the tender, which pertains to appropriateness to context, quality of architecture, composition and placement of uses, and track records of the tenderer and the design team.

Under the criteria for appropriateness to context, the CEC considered the overall design concept and whether the proposed building form and massing responded appropriately and related well to the surrounding context. The proposals were also assessed on whether they contributed positively to the skyline profile of the city. Under the criteria for quality of architecture, the CEC assessed whether each proposal featured a high-quality architecture that would underscore the significance and importance of the site as a strategic node within the city. The CEC also assessed the concept proposals on whether they provided attractive public spaces, effective pedestrian access that was well-integrated with the adjacent Esplanade MRT Station, appropriate responses to the tropical climate, appropriate placement of uses within the development and sensitive adaptive reuse of the conservation buildings. The experience of the tenderers and their design teams in developing and operating a large scale development of similar quality was also considered under the track record criterion.

Only concept proposals that substantially satisfied the evaluation criteria were short-listed by the CEC to proceed to the second stage of evaluation. At the second stage, only the price envelopes of the short-listed concept proposals were opened for consideration. The site was then awarded to the tender with the highest bid among the tenderers with short-listed concept proposals.


Details of tender

The Beach Road site was launched for tender on 6 March 2007 and the tender closed on 25 July 2007. A total of seven tenders were received for the site.

CEC concluded that the concept proposals submitted by the following two tenderers had satisfied the evaluation criteria substantially and were acceptable to proceed to the second stage of the tender evaluation:

1) Scottsdale Properties Pte Ltd., Istithmar Beach Road Fze and Elad Group Singapore Pte. Ltd.; and

2) Ocean & Capital Properties Private Limited and Billion Rise Limited.

Both tenderers offered concept proposals that would result in high-quality developments, in terms of overall design concepts and that fit well into the site context and contribute positively to the skyline profile. Both concept proposals also contained very attractive and well-conceived 1st storey layout with attractive public spaces and good integration with the adjacent Esplanade MRT Station.

The price envelopes of the two short-listed tenderers were opened and the details of the price bids are as shown in Annex A. In accordance with the two-envelope tender system, the Beach Road site is awarded to Scottsdale Properties Pte. Ltd., Istithmar Beach Road Fze and Elad Group Singapore Pte. Ltd., which submitted the higher price bid of $1,688,888,000.

Concept proposal by Scottsdale Properties Pte Ltd, Istithmar Beach Road Fze and Elad Group Singapore Pte Ltd

Central to the concept proposal of the winning bid is the adoption of environmental design approach and green technology to create a distinctive, high-quality development for the site that responds well to the tropical climate and the urban context. The key feature in the design is a large ‘environmental filter’ canopy that covers over the open spaces and ties together the new and conservation buildings within the site. This structure provides protection from the sun and rain, yet maintains a naturally ventilated and attractive environment below it.

The concept proposal also provides an attractive 1st storey layout which is highly permeable, open and welcoming. It contains a series of internal streets, inspired by the finer grain street network at the nearby Seah Street and Purvis Street area, sunken courtyards and tiered gardens lined with activity-generating uses, such as shops, cafes and F&B outlets. The well-conceived connection from the MRT Station features a ‘green axis’ that ascends gradually from the basement level where the MRT entrance and exit are located to the street level through a series of cascading steps and multi-tiered garden spaces. This pedestrian-friendly setting with an attractive series of sheltered public spaces and a variety of uses will help to enhance street level vibrancy and facilitate pedestrian movement through the site and to the surrounding areas.

In terms of building form, the Concept Proposal features distinctive tower forms with sun-shading louvres, glass façade treatments and extensive sky gardens that will contribute very positively to the skyline profile of the city. The building shape and slanting facades of the towers are also oriented and designed to catch prevailing winds and direct air flow down to the lower areas of the development to improve the micro climate of the ground level spaces. The undulating geometry of the environmental filter canopy is also designed to help induce cooling air currents through the spaces below. All these elements, together with the other ‘green’ features, such as incorporation of photovoltaic cells on the building facades and the environmental canopy, contributed to the scheme potentially being able to achieve a Green Mark Platinum rating. This is the highest possible rating awarded by the BCA for buildings in Singapore that feature energy-efficient, water-efficient and environmentally friendly design.

Overall, the concept proposal offers a compelling and attractive scheme which, once implemented, would create a truly distinctive development and an exemplary showcase of ‘green’ architecture in Singapore. Please click here to view the images of the winning proposal.