PHOTO RELEASE

MORE STUDENTS GAINING INTEREST IN CONSTRUCTION PRODUCTIVITY Record number of about 800 students participating at the Singapore Construction

Productivity Week

20 Oct 2016 – Parliamentary Secretary for Culture, Community and Youth, Mr Baey Yam Keng,

joined close to 200 students from Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) as they raced against time to

assemble a miniature building at the Singapore Construction Productivity Week’s (SCPW)

Productivity Race. Participants competed at games at three pit-stops and learnt about key

productive technologies that are used in the built environment sector. Guest-of-Honour, Mr Baey

urged students to explore possible career options in the built environment sector, before flagging

off the race.

The Productivity Race is one of the six student events of this year’s SCPW, organised by Building

and Construction Authority (BCA) to reach out to youths and increase awareness of the productive

technologies used in the built environment sector. A record number of about 800 students

participated in this year’s SCPW.

Issued by the Building and Construction Authority on 20 Oct 2016

About BCA

The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) of Singapore champions the development of an

excellent built environment for Singapore. BCA’s mission is to shape a safe, high quality,

sustainable and friendly built environment, as these are four key elements where BCA has a

significant influence. In doing so, it aims to differentiate Singapore’s built environment from those

of other cities and contribute to a better quality of life for everyone in Singapore. Hence, its vision

is to have "a future-ready built environment for Singapore". Together with its education arm, the

BCA Academy of the Built Environment, BCA works closely with its industry partners to develop

skills and expertise that help shape a future-ready built environment for Singapore. For more

information, visit www.bca.gov.sg.

About the Singapore Construction Productivity Week (SCPW)

Organised by the Building and Construction Authority of Singapore (BCA), the Singapore

Construction Productivity Week (SCPW) is an industry hallmark event for developers, architects,

consultants, builders and suppliers to exchange ideas on construction productivity, as well as

share the latest developments in new productive technologies, best practices and success

stories. Held from 18 – 21 October 2016, key events this year include the BuildTech Asia

Exhibition, Build Smart Conference, Skilled Builders Project, inaugural SCAL Productivity

Innovation Competition and Awards, Experiential Workshop, as well as the Productivity

Workshop, Productivity Challenge and Productivity Race to engage tertiary students on

construction productivity concepts. For more information, please visit www.scpw.sg

For media queries, please contact the Corporate Communications Department:

Rena Pang

Executive Communications Manager

DID: 6804 4156

HP: 81023654

Email: rena_pang@bca.gov.sg

Sherlyn Chen

Senior Communications Manager

DID: 6804 4168

Email: sherlyn_chen@bca.gov.sg

ANNEX A

FACTSHEET ON PRODUCTIVITY RACE 2016

The fourth edition of the Productivity Race is part of this year’s Singapore Construction Productivity

Week (SCPW).

The race aims to provide students from local Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) with a better

understanding of how productive construction technology can help transform the built environment

sector, by speeding up construction processes and reducing manual labour; and to allow them to

learn about the roles and importance of different professions in the built environment sector.

Participants:

More than 240 students registered for this year’s Productivity Race. The students are from

Singapore Polytechnic, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Nanyang Polytechnic, ITE College Central, ITE

College East and BCA Academy.

Prizes:

Placing Prize

First S$2,000 cash vouchers

Second S$1,500 cash vouchers

Third S$1,000 cash vouchers

Fourth S$500 cash vouchers

Fifth S$300 cash vouchers

Game stations:

Games featured at the pit-stops are designed to allow students to learn about key productive

technologies, how these technologies work, and their application at actual construction sites.

Station 1: Assembling ‘Prefabricated Prefinished Volumetric Concrete (PPVC) Modules’ –

[with GOH’s Participation]

Game objective: To construct and assemble PPVC units to form a three-storey building

Learning points:

PPVC is a construction method whereby whole rooms or apartment units complete with internal

fixtures like walls, floors and ceilings, are constructed or manufactured and assembled off-site,

and installed on site in a Lego-like manner.

It speeds up construction, enables manday savings of up to 40%, minimises dust and noise

pollution, and provides a safer work environment since most of the work processes are done

off-site.

Examples of PPVC at Changi Airport Crowne Plaza Hotel Extension (on left) and NTU North

Hill Residential Halls (on right)

For more information on PPVC, please refer to Annex B.

Station 2: Memory Flip Cards and Matching Sequence of Work Card Games

Game objective: To identify and match the right cards under “DfMA Technology” and

“Conventional Technology”

Learning points:

To raise construction productivity, BCA encourages the industry to embrace the concept of

Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA), such that as much work is done off-site as

possible. DfMA allows works to be done in a controlled off-site environment, with greater scope

of automation and for construction works to go offshore.

Station 3: Site Game

Game objective: To provide accurate answers for a quiz about the productive technologies

being adopted on the site which the participants visited

Venue 1: Coco Palms construction site at Pasir Ris Drive 1

Venue 2: Tampines Greenridges construction site at Tampines Avenue 9.

Learning points: To allow students to see and learn about construction technologies used on

actual construction sites. Students are to proceed to their designated construction site, where

they will be briefed about the construction technologies on site.

Sample Question:

Which is the faster method of constructing the staircase?

Precast Staircase Cast In-situ Staircase

Tampines Greenridges @Tampines Ave 9 Coco Palms Project @Pasir Ris Drive 1

ANNEX B

FACTSHEET ON PREFABRICATED PRE-FINISHED VOLUMETRIC CONSTRUCTION (PPVC)

In Prefabricated Pre-finished Volumetric Construction (PPVC), entire flats or modules complete with internal finishes, fixtures and fittings are manufactured in factories, and are then transported to site for installation in a Lego-like manner. PPVC can be considered for residential and mixed (residential and commercial) developments, institutional and other projects as well as other accommodation type of developments such as hotels, hostels and nursing homes.

Assembly of PPVC modules on site Benefits of PPVC

PPVC can significantly speed up construction. It can potentially achieve productivity improvement of up to about 15 to 20% in construction time and up to about 25 to 40% in manpower, depending on the complexity of the projects.

Minimised dust and noise pollution as more activities are done off-site.

Improved site safety with bulk of the installation activities and manpower moved off-site to a factory controlled environment.

PPVC in Singapore In terms of regulatory clearance, PPVC has already obtained In-Principle Acceptance from all the technical agencies for use in Singapore. MND/BCA had set up the Building Innovation Panel (BIP) to facilitate expedient multiple agency evaluation and approval of innovative construction methods (including PPVC), processes and materials that will improve construction productivity. There are currently nine suppliers for PPVC in Singapore - CIMC (China), Dragages, Excel Precast, Modular (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Moderna Homes, Sembcorp EOSM, Tiong Seng, Teambuild and Unitised Building (China). Nanyang Technological University had awarded its first PPVC hostel project at NTU North Hill to Singapore Piling & Civil Engineering Pte Ltd (part of BBR Holdings (S) Ltd). Construction started in July 2014 and was completed in September 2016. Separately, OUE had awarded the tender in June 2014 to develop the extension of the Crowne Plaza Hotel at Changi Airport to Dragages Singapore Pte Ltd. Dragages had worked with Unitised Building who prefabricated the modules for the Crowne Plaza extension in their Shanghai factory before they are shipped to Singapore for installation.

City Developments Limited (CDL) is the first developer in Asia to introduce PPVC in the development of a large-scale residential development - an Executive Condominium (EC) at Canberra Drive. The EC comprises eight 10 to 12-storey blocks with 638 units constructed using some 5,000 building modules. By far, this is likely the world’s largest and first-of-its-kind application of concrete PPVC for a large-scale private residential development. Since November 2014, selected projects under Government Land Sales (GLS) programme are required to adopt high-impact productive technologies. Six GLS sites at Yishun Ave 4, Jurong West Street 41, West Coast Vale, Clementi Avenue 1, Bukit Batok West Ave 6 and Fernvale Road have been specified to adopt PPVC. To date, there are 15 projects (from the public and private sector) adopting PPVC.

OUE Crowne Plaza Hotel Extension

NTU North Hill Hostel

CDL’s Executive Condominium (EC) at Canberra Drive