MESSAGE FROM THE SPONSOR
TANG HSIAO LING
Ms Tang Hsiao Ling is the Director of JTC’s Urban Design and Architecture Division
As the lead agency in Singapore spearheading the planning, promotion and development of industrial land in the country, JTC Corporation (JTC) has played a major role in Singapore's economic development journey by developing industrial infrastructure that catalysed the growth of new industries and transformed existing enterprises. Since its inception in 1968, JTC has pioneered cutting-edge industrial infrastructure solutions to meet the fast-changing needs of companies with each phase of industrialisation. As Singapore’s economy transited through the labour-intensive, skills-intensive, capital-intensive, knowledge-intensive and innovation-driven phases from the 1960s until now, JTC has been at the forefront of innovating new land solutions and building space products to ensure a dynamic industrial ecosystem that continuously keeps pace with the evolving needs of the manufacturing landscape. In recent years, JTC has embarked on an initiative to Reimagine Singapore’s Industrial Landscape and has rolled out rejuvenation and redevelopment plans for its mature industrial estates to ensure they remain relevant in the evolving manufacturing landscape, create job centres that contribute towards economic advancement and further optimise land while creating sustainable and liveable work environments. As the Sungei Kadut Industrial Estate in the North Region was one of Singapore’s first industrial estates and played a major role in the growth of the manufacturing sector in the country, it has been identified as the first brownfield estate to be rejuvenated under this initiative. With the need to catalyse economic restructuring and industry transformation within the estate to ensure it meets the changing business needs of industrialists, the redevelopment also aims to contribute to Singapore’s decentralisation strategy by providing a new and exciting employment centre in the North Region. This would have the two-fold advantage of bringing jobs closer to homes and offering an array of amenities and recreational facilities to position the estate as a new lifestyle and leisure destination. Hence, we envision the rejuvenated estate as a mixed-use eco-district where economic and natural assets can be integrated and woven into the masterplan. epilogue
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The new Sungei Kadut Eco-District (SKED) is also envisaged as an Inclusive, Resilient, Generative and Beautiful next-generation industrial township that will seed, test-bed and spearhead the Circular Economy concept and lead the transformation of industries towards a more collaborative and innovative ecosystem amongst the existing Lifestyle and Construction and new Agri-Tech and Environmental Technology industry clusters. JTC and the National University of Singapore (NUS) have been actively collaborating on multiple planning and design research projects for almost a decade. With JTC’s extensive experience in industrial land and space development and the NUS’ multi-disciplinary expertise in the fields of architecture, design and engineering, this research collaboration has helped to trigger a vibrant industrial infrastructure research ecosystem through an industry-academia partnership. JTC was able to use this design research studio to cultivate industrial knowledge amongst the students and promote the relevance of industrial development and its contribution to Singapore’s economy. The workshops organised by the research team gave the students an in-depth understanding of circular economy concepts and industrial ecosystems. And with the guidance of research and industry experts, the students were able to develop creative ideas, innovative industrial infrastructure solutions and land optimisation strategies for the estate. The outcome of this design research studio has provided our planning team with new planning concepts that can be further explored and taken into consideration as we progressively develop the rejuvenation masterplan for the Sungei Kadut Eco-District. On behalf of JTC, we would like to express our appreciation to Dr Nirmal Kishnani, Dr Swinal Samant and their team at the NUS School of Design and Environment. Our thanks also goes to Wong Mun Summ and his team at WOHA for facilitating this design research studio and creating a platform that allowed students to contribute to the transformation of Sungei Kadut and formulate innovative, sustainable urban solutions for Singapore.
“The outcome of this design research studio has provided our planning team with new planning concepts that can be further explored and taken into consideration as we progressively develop the rejuvenation masterplan for the Sungei Kadut Eco-District.”
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tang hsiao ling
