• Introduce an Enterprise Sustainability Programme, to help enterprises, especially SMEs, embrace sustainability and develop capabilities in this area.
• Create new and diverse job opportunities in sectors such as Green finance, sustainability consultancy, verification, credits trading and risk management.
For more information, please visit
https://www.greenplan.gov.sg/key- focus-areas/vision/.
Delivering on a sustainable design intent
From “need to have” to “nice to have”
Following through on a sustainable design intent is not always easy, but there’s no time to waste in tackling climate change and other sustainability issues.
So what’s getting in the way?
What are the biggest barriers to achieving more sustainable cities, buildings, interiors and products? Are there viable ways to overcome them? When do top-down regulations need to be bolstered by bottom-up sustainability initiatives?
In this webinar held on 27 January 2021, a diverse panel of speakers tackled the many advocacy, ethical and economic factors at play in the pursuit of sustainable design. They include:
• Yvonne Soh, Executive Director, Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC)
• Benjamin Henry Towell, Senior Architect, Building and Construction Authority (BCA)
• Razvan Ghilic-Micu, Associate, Hassell • Pan Yi Cheng, Design Director and Co-founder, Produce • Emily Sim, Director, Panelogue
Key takeaways • Rethinking value We need to rethink how we apply value. There is the cost of things and
the value of things—real and perceived. The market does not necessarily value what is good in the long term. Top-down incentives can help move the market another way.
• Balancing cost, value and time
It is encouraged to have a conversation at the start of a building project with clients and consultants about upfront savings versus incremental gains in the long term.
• Developing renewable supply chains
A bottom-up approach to developing renewable materials in our region (such as those made with reconstituted plantation timber) can help kickstart the development of a more sustainable supply chain and allow new considerations to product lifecycles.
• Economies of scale, for who? Cost comes down with economies of scale, and incentive schemes can help encourage certain directions. It is harder for small studios to gain economies of scale when specifying materials; perhaps a collective effort is needed.
• Project financing is changing
Climate risks are starting to be factored into the structure of large- scale project financing. It will soon cost more to finance a project that does not have sustainable goals or metrics.
• Taking responsibility We cannot preserve the status quo of practice. If we do, we need to accept the responsibility that we are preserving the root causes of the social and ecological crises we find ourselves in today.
• Achieving systemic change
Systemic change in how the whole design ecosystem operates will be driven from both the top down and the bottom up. Top-down incentives or regulations have been useful to date, but they should not become a crutch. Today, the bottom-up approach is levelling up, and the private sector is starting to push the government.
Panel of speakers and moderator discussed about delivering on a sustainable design intent during the webinar
84 FUTURARC
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95
