Singapore Green Building Council Annual Report 2020

Annual Report 2020

CONTENTS Introduction

1

About SGBC

2

A Global Movement

3

President's Message

4

SGBC Board (2019/2021)

7

Snapshot: 2020

8

Leading Industry Transformation

9

Build Our Green Future Together

11

Strengthening Access to Sustainability

13

The Digital Pivot

15

Placing the Onus on SGBC Members

17

Staying Connected in the New Normal

18

Accessing New Segments

19

Green Procurement for Green Buildings

20

Supporting our Green Building Professionals

23

INTRODUCTION 2020 has been an extraordinary year on all fronts, with the COVID-19 pandemic turning the building and construction industry upside down for much of the year. Construction projects grounded to a halt, industry activities were shelved and the new business as usual took on a very different, very digital, form.

Through these tumultuous times however, many around the world experienced better air quality for a few months in 2020, thanks in part to pandemicinstituted pauses in heavy industrial activity. This is testament to what the world can achieve by working towards a shared goal and setting our differences aside.

If we are able to do this to combat the pandemic, we can do the same for climate change.

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ABOUT SGBC The Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC) enables sustainability across the building and construction value chain, championing capability development and innovative solutions that support industry transformation through our Membership, Certification and outreach programmes.

The repository of proven green building solutions helps to enable green procurement in the industry, profiling leading and innovative solutions that go towards building a greener, healthier built environment.

Together with a growing pool of industryrecognised Green Mark Accredited Professionals, SGBC addresses every touchpoint of the green building ecosystem.

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A GLOBAL MOVEMENT As part of the global green building community, SGBC is an Established Member of the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC), Singapore’s national representative to a network of close to 70 green building councils worldwide. The WorldGBC catalyses the uptake of sustainable buildings for everyone, everywhere, transforming the building and construction sector across the three strategic areas of climate action, health & wellbeing, as well as resources & circularity.

The WorldGBC works with businesses, organisations and governments to drive the ambitions of the Paris Agreement and UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development. Through a systems-change approach, the WorldGBC network is leading the industry towards a net zero carbon, healthy, equitable and resilient built environment.

SGBC has been well represented on the WorldGBC platform, with SGBC Founding President Er. Lee Chuan Seng having served as a Board Member on the WorldGBC Board of Directors and SGBC 2nd President Mr. Tai Lee Siang taking on the mantle of the first Asian chair of the WorldGBC Board from 20162018. SGBC’s 5th President Mr. Tan Swee Yiow is currently representing SGBC on the WorldGBC Board, serving a second term with an additional appointment as Secretary of the Board.

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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Dear Members, After the onset of a global pandemic, a Circuit Breaker and an unprecedented five national budgets, the building and construction industry – and by extension the entire economy – is now in very different circumstances from what was previously envisioned. It is not too much to say that 2020 had been an extraordinary year, one filled with immense challenge but also rife with tremendous progress in areas that would otherwise firmly remain at the status quo.

The green building and sustainability movement is now at exciting times. As calls for climate change mitigation continue to grow, policymakers and leaders are beginning to sit up and seriously listen. Since early 2020, SGBC has been working with the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) to co-create the Singapore Green Building Masterplan, which will be launched in early 2021. The Masterplan is part of the larger Singapore Green Plan 2030 national sustainability effort, a multi-ministry effort aimed at creating a more sustainable home for generations to come. The sun has indeed risen for sustainability and green building.

With steadfast support from the SGBC Board and Secretariat, I have had the good fortune of leading SGBC through several milestones during my time as President. In 2019, we celebrated the Council’s #SGBC10 10th anniversary, a decade of advancing green building. Having served with my fellow Board Members since the early days of SGBC, it was truly a momentous and meaningful milestone that primed the Council for the next lap of growth.

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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE Having embraced digitalisation very early on, SGBC’s operations were not severely affected by the effects of COVID-19. In fact, the Secretariat instituted remote working arrangements as early as February 2020, prioritising the safety and wellbeing of our Members and partners. Within a short timeframe, our traditionally in-person activities were all pivoted to the digital space, ensuring that our Members are still able to stay abreast of key industry developments while grappling with the fallout of the pandemic.

I am very happy to report that SGBC’s digital initiatives are very well received by our Members and the rest of the industry. In 2020, we put together 36 digital events, inclusive of 21 SGBC Webinars organised in collaboration with like-minded SGBC Members. These online events attracted over 7000 attendees, with the digital nature allowing SGBC to tap on the knowledge of overseas-based speakers as well as attract attendees from beyond our shores.

Building on this success, SGBC will continue to build up our repertoire and deliver more digital events to our Members, partners and the industry. Our online efforts tie in very well with our other programmes, including the SGBC Green Mark Professional Qualification Scheme.

After officially taking over the administration of the BCA Green Mark Specialists register from the BCA in early 2019, we have built a very robust Continuing Professional Development (CPD) framework for our SGBC Green Mark Accredited Professionals (GMAPs). SGBC’s online activities allow our GMAPs to continue learning and stay updated with industry trends and developments, keeping their competitive edge honed even in challenging times.

We also cemented a couple of key collaborations with SGBC Members in 2020, namely with KPMG Singapore on Advancing Net Zero projects as well as Singapore Polytechnic. The MOU with Singapore Polytechnic was also witnessed in-person by Minister for National Development Mr. Desmond Lee on 11 December 2020, and we look forward to working closely with Singapore Polytechnic to drive more sustainability programmes in support of Singapore’s green building and sustainability amibitions.

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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE As the world begins to restart and rebuild from the effects of the pandemic, the business as usual has changed dramatically. Digitalisation, once placed on the backburner, is now front and center of almost every organisation active in the built environment. The importance of health and wellbeing will also factor heavily into the future of how our buildings and infrastructure assets will be designed, built and operated, ushering in a new era of sustainable development.

My time as SGBC’s 6th President has been nothing short of wonderful and enriching, having engaged with stakeholders from every stage of the green building value chain. I am confident that the next President, Ar. Tang Kok Thye, will be able to build on the solid foundations set by our predecessors and grow SGBC to greener, greater heights.

Last but not least, I sincerely thank all SGBC Members and fellow Board Members for your constant guidance, strong support and warm encouragement, without this, I would have never been able to execute my president’s duties so smoothly. I also wish to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to the SGBC Secretariat, for your unwavering support and cooperation throughout my tenure.

Finally, I wish to quote the publicly-voted tagline of the Singapore Green Building Masterplan: let us Build Our Green Future Together!

Dr. Ho Nyok Yong President (2019-2021)

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SGBC BOARD 2019-2021

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SNAPSHOT: 2020

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LEADING INDUSTRY TRANSFORMATION SGBC officially opened on 3 February 2020 its new base of operations at the BCA Braddell Campus signalling the Council’s leading role in the transformation of the Singapore built environment.

“SGBC’s role in the industry and built environment ecosystem has greatly expanded over the past 10 years, but we would never have come this far without the support of our Members, partners and the industry,” said Dr. Ho Nyok Yong, President of SGBC. “The new SGBC Office is a testament to SGBC’s collaborative nature, working with like-minded organisations to create a healthy and sustainable space that showcases exemplary green building design.”

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LEADING INDUSTRY TRANSFORMATION Designed and renovated with an emphasis on sustainability and wellbeing, the SGBC Office is inspired by nature to create a park-like ambience and an open and collaborative base from which SGBC’s programmes and initiatives will be driven.

The SGBC Office exemplifies sustainable office interior design principles with an emphasis on health, wellbeing and productivity. The office was designed to provide a variety of space types for activity-based working, while fittings and furnishes were specially selected to ensure low emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The office also maximises use of daylight through an effective shading strategy and usage of light shelves, reducing the need for artificial lighting.

Accentuating the collaborative spirit of SGBC, the new office was made possible with the contributions of SGBC Corporate Members who volunteered expertise and certified green building solutions.

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BUILD OUR GREEN FUTURE TOGETHER Together with BCA, SGBC is co-creating the Singapore Green Building Masterplan, a part of the Singapore Green Plan 2030 which aims to strengthen existing national sustainability efforts.

As part of the co-creation progress, engagement is key. Consultations deeply involved a total of 82 industry stakeholders from different points of the value chain as part of the SGBMP Working Committee. This includes architects, consultants, developers, engineers, contractors, suppliers, researchers and more.

Members of the Committee were involved in different taskforces that looked into developing the vision and outcomes of the next lap of our green building journey, as well as the initiatives to get there. With a better understanding of the barriers faced by the built environment sector stakeholders and the industry’s potential to stretch for higher targets, the Committee can collectively develop SGBMP initiatives that will effectively help drive the green building agenda forward.

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BUILD OUR GREEN FUTURE TOGETHER To sustain this push for the green building agenda, a healthy ecosystem with enough demand drivers and enablers is required. Since the beginning of 2020, the Committee has been reaching out to the wider community and other stakeholder groups such as Financial Institutions in a concerted effort to better understand their views on green buildings and generate a broader mind share for the SGBMP. The key engagement outcomes were to: 1. Raise awareness of the urgency to take climate action and how green buildings are a key strategy to mitigate climate change 2. Build a shared vision for the SGBMP through stakeholder engagement 3. Seek wider support on the benefits of green buildings and greater involvement in ground-up environmental sustainability initiatives.

From March to November 2020, BCA and SGBC have reached out to more than 5,000 individuals through various engagement initiatives to gather insights for the development of the SGBMP, culminating in the publiclyvoted tagline: Build our Green Future Together.

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STRENGTHENING ACCESS TO SUSTAINABILITY SGBC formalised two key collaborations through signing of Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) with SGBC Corporate Members in 2020, dedicated to strengthening industry and community access to sustainability.

The first MOU was cemented with management consultancy firm KPMG Services Pte Ltd, a SGBC Corporate Member since 2019. The main objective of the KPMG-SGBC MOU was to focus collaboration efforts on key built environment topics such as advancing net zero as well as healthy real estate.

KPMG worked closely with SGBC to produce a report that gave an overview of advancing net zero buildings, distilling content from SGBC’s 4-part webinar series of the same topic. KPMG also shared their insights and perspectives on this topic at two SGBC events in 2020, adding another dimension to the sustainability conversation.

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STRENGTHENING ACCESS TO SUSTAINABILITY The second major partnership cemented in 2020 was with SGBC Founding Member Singapore Polytechnic (SP). The MOU covers five key areas to strengthen sustainability and leverages the technical expertise brought by SP and its array of built environment labs with SGBC’s industry connections to raise awareness on sustainable built environment materials.

The MOU was formally signed on 11 December 2020 by SGBC President Dr. Ho Nyok Yong and SP-PCEO Mr. Soh Wai Wah in the presence of Minister for National Development Mr. Desmond Lee. The in-person event was held on the premises of SP and was followed by a brief dialogue session with the political office holder.

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THE DIGITAL PIVOT Digitalisation has become part and parcel of modern life, with the pandemic fuelling the acceleration to widespread adoption. The changing business landscape has also made the creation and sharing of digital content mission-critical, especially in the building and construction industry where digitalisation is a key pillar of industry transformation.

Having started our own digitalisation journey early with the commissioning of specialised platforms to facilitate the online delivery of our core Membership and Certification programmes, SGBC could focus on developing and rolling out value-added content in the new normal.

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THE DIGITAL PIVOT As in-person events were not feasible nor possible in 2020, all SGBC activities were pivoted to the digital space.

While virtual meetings and online seminars were commonplace in certain industries, they were still relatively foreign to a more traditionally-rooted building and construction sector.

Despite the two-month Circuit Breaker and the normalisation of remote working arrangements, SGBC saw an eventful 2020.

In total, SGBC organised 36 digital events which includes webinars, information sessions and short courses, a substantial increase from the 27 in-person activities held in 2019.

SGBC's digital events were also very well received, attended by more than 7,000 attendees abetted by the no-borders, nonphysical nature of the digital space.

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PLACING THE ONUS ON SGBC MEMBERS The SGBC Secretariat got themselves up to speed with the available platforms before running briefing sessions to help SGBC Members organise their own meetings with stakeholders, which proved to be especially helpful during the Circuit Breaker period.

These sessions include: 1. Getting to Know Zoom with SGBC 2. About SafeEntry 3. Briefing on IBEW 2020 4. SGBC Green15 As a brand-new Member initiative pioneered in 2020, the SGBC Green15 solution introduction sessions helped SGBC Members remain connected with other elements of the building and construction value chain. This allowed SGBC Members in need of green building solutions to be kept in touch with fellow SGBC Members who can provide market-ready built environment innovations, technology and expertise.

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STAYING CONNECTED IN THE NEW NORMAL 2020 saw the launch of the SGBC Webinar, the digital equivalent of SGBC’s in-person seminars and workshops. SGBC conceptualised and delivered a total of 21 webinar sessions in 2020, mostly in collaboration and partnership with SGBC Members or notable industry partners, with 8 organisations committing to comprehensive webinar series with 2 or more individual sessions. The borderless nature of the digital space allowed for expanded participation in SGBC Webinars, which saw good participation rain or shine. While the majority of webinar attendees were still individuals based in Singapore, SGBC saw increasing numbers of participants from regional and international territories.

SGBC Webinar Partners BCA Dyson Singapore HELVAR HSBC JTC Corporation Lutron GL Limited Schneider Electric Siemens Singapore Power Digital Softbank Robotics UL Environment World Green Building Council

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ACCESSING NEW SEGMENTS Digitalisation enabled SGBC to access new industry and market segments. Through a collaboration with the Singapore Estate Agents Association (SEAA), SGBC imparted essential knowledge on green and quality buildings to more than 3000 active estate agents over 10 dedicated webinar sessions.

SGBC Founding Member City Developments Limited (CDL) also supported these sessions with actual case studies of green condominium properties, providing estate agents with concrete examples of green building features alongside the wealth of knowledge brought by BCA and SGBC.

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GREEN PROCUREMENT FOR GREEN BUILDINGS SGBC’s Singapore Green Building Product (SGBP) and Singapore Green Building Services (SGBS) certification programmes continue to see strong industry support and adoption, with a steady stream of building products, materials and services approaching SGBC for certification.

Although the onset of COVID-19 impacted the certification process due to new working arrangements and complexities in retrieving and/or producing the required documentation, SGBC's certification numbers remained healthy in 2020, in part aided by the fully-digital nature of all certification operational processes.

SGBC Certificates Issued

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SGBP CERTIFICATION

Distribution of Certified Products

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SGBS CERTIFICATION

Distribution of Certified Services

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SUPPORTING OUR GREEN BUILDING PROFESSIONALS SGBC officially took over the administration of the nation’s green building professionals from BCA on 1 July 2019, refreshing the register as the SGBC Green Professional Qualification Scheme. By 2020, SGBC has registered close to 1000 Green Mark Accredited Professionals (GMAPs) onto the programme.

GMAP professions cut across the building and construction value chain, with the more conventional roles of architects, engineers, consultants, quantity surveyors alongside non-traditional roles such as property developer management personnel as well as representatives of government bodies and other trade associations/ chambers. This also signals a growing focus on sustainability within built environment organisations.

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CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT GMAP Professional Profile

GMAP Competencies

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CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SGBC has put in place a fully-fledged Continuing Professional Development (CPD) framework to help GMAPs stay abreast of industry trends and developments, as well as hone their respective areas of expertise. SGBC delivers a robust stable of CPD events in-house, with SGBC Webinars being one of the most popular vehicles for GMAP learning. The high number of webinars organised - along with the diverse topics covered - ensures that GMAPs are able to access a wide variety of content to support their own learning and development.

Apart from SGBC Webinars, SGBC puts together learning journeys and site visits to green building projects and other areas of interest, short courses as well as workshops for GMAPs to continue their professional development in the format that works best for them.

SGBC also taps on the expertise of other industry organisations to provide CPD content for GMAPs. These include BCA, ASHRAE, SEAS and REDAS. By working with organisations well versed in specific areas of interest, GMAPs are able to access content relevant to their professions that are otherwise unavailable.

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Annual Report 2020