FAQs
1) What do you regard as the most important objective of the Council, beyond promoting a greener built landscape?
In order to promote a greener built landscape, progressive mainstreaming of green building mindsets is the most important objective of the Council. As one of its action strategies, ‘Green Competence’, i.e. enhancing professionalism and knowledge in sustainable development, and the acquisition and sharing of ‘green’ Information, the Council hopes to further the private sector’s commitment to green building.
2) How do you work towards fulfilling this objective?
The Council will deliver on Green Competence by i) using its website as a platform for information creation and dissemination, ii) providing expert advice from industry leaders towards mitigating increased business costs in adopting green building practices, and iii) developing a case for green buildings, so as to place an interest in environmental sustainability in the profit-maximising behaviour of companies.
3) What are the Council’s main targets for 2010, 2011 and 2012?
The Council aims to share green building information at home and abroad by hosting and participating in industry seminars and international events. Every year, especially 2010, will be exciting year for our Council as we look forward to host a major Green Building event each year. For the first time, SGBC is leading a Singapore delegation up to Beijing for the 6th Beijing International Green Building Conference & Expo which will also feature our very first Singapore Pavilion at the expo.
Additionally, we will be launching a green building products listing, available on the Council’s website, it will be a portal on which Council members can promote their green building products and technologies. At a later stage, the products can be certified under a new green building product certification scheme.
Beyond 2010, while stepping up on existing programmes, the Council will be looking into actively partnering other agencies in delivering outreach programmes to create interest in green building in the public as a whole.
4) How do you measure the Council’s success?
An ambitious target of ‘greening’ 80% of Singapore’s buildings by 2030 was set out in the national 2nd Green Building Masterplan. While incentive schemes and R&D funding play a key role in fulfilling this aim, the Council’s success will be fundamental to the progression of Singapore’s green building movement – it will be measured in terms of its strength of membership, the increase in buildings registered for the national green building assessment scheme, and the Council’s standing in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as in the World GBC framework.
5) How do you think the Council compares to others within the region in terms of its influence on the building industry?
The Asia-Pacific region is characterized by its high rates of urbanization, strong economic growth and diverse societies. In this sense, it is the site of many opportunities for cooperation among national GBCs. Although each set of national GBC objectives are not independent, the political and economic objectives, the rates of urban development and the degree of government intervention in the building industry differ significantly among countries.
SGBC aims to promote green building through advocacy, education and engagement of all stakeholders, in line with the increasing awareness of environmental degradation in high-density, urban landscapes.
6) To what extent does the Council coordinate with the Government regarding green building regulations and sustainable urban planning?
Singapore’s green building policy is targeted at all stakeholders in the building and construction value chain, from developers to architects to builders to homeowners - it aims to be the regional hub for green building research and development, and to this end, strengthen the national green building assessment system and develop a core of ‘green-collar’ specialists.
SGBC adopts a 3P (‘Private, Public, People’) approach to green building and has forged positive relationships with Singapore government agencies such as the Building and Construction Authority, Housing Development Board, National Environment Agency, National Parks Board and Urban Redevelopment Authority. Influential members of these agencies play active roles in the development of building codes and regulations (at BCA), the formulation and implementation of local environment policy (NEA, NParks and the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources in general), the provision of energy-efficient public housing (HDB) and the continuing effort to create liveable yet sustainable urban communities in Singapore (URA).
Further to leveraging on the private-public linkages, SGBC members are involved in the policy-making process and the development of codes for sustainable design.