Phase 1 Of Singapore's Gardens By The Bay Project At Marina South To Be Completed By 2010.

Source : Channel NewsAsia, 09 November 2007

Singapore’s transformation from a “Garden City” into a “City in a Garden”, has begun with Friday’s ground breaking works at Marina South for phase one of the Gardens by the Bay project to build three waterfront gardens.

The first of the three Gardens is the 54 hectare Gardens at Marina South which is scheduled to be completed by end-2010, in line with the completion of the Marina Bay Integrated Resort and other developments at Marina Bay.

To commemorate the groundbreaking of the Gardens, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan planted a Golden Rain Tree, a shade tree which will be one of many that will frame the boulevard bordering the East side of the Gardens at Marina South.

One of the key features of the garden designed by UK-based design firm Grant Associates, are the Cool Conservatories which will serve as architectural icons, horticultural attractions, and showcase sustainable energy technology. The two conservatories will apply a combination of the latest cooling technologies, so that the energy consumption for the “Cool Moist” Conservatory and “Cool Dry” Conservatory will be lower than that of a comparable commercial building in Singapore of similar size.

The Gardens by the Bay will also feature Plant Edutainment Gardens, a Flower Market, a Main Events Space and the Horticultural Show Gardens.

The 2.6 hectare Horticultural Show Gardens, will showcase the best of tropical horticulture and garden artistry. Together with another 10 hectares of mass flowering and coloured foliage landscape, they will form a spectacle of colour and texture. Among the attractions will be displays focusing on economically important plants in Singapore and Southeast Asia.

Another “wow” factor will be the SuperTrees which are tree-like structures that measure between nine and 16 storeys high. This vertical display of tropical flowering climbers, epiphytes and ferns will come alive at night with lighting and projected media while providing shade and shelter in our equatorial climate.

101 hectares of prime land by the water will be taken up by the Gardens by the Bay project which will feature on the western bank of the Marina Barrage, a 32 hectare development called the Gardens at Marina East. This will be the work of UK-based design firm Gustafson Porter and will create a more serene ambience with terraced water gardens that cascade down the Bay’s edge.

There’s been no master plan design awarded for the Gardens at Marina Centre as yet. The 15 hectare site, the smallest of the three plots, has a waterfront promenade stretching 2.8 kilometres.