Preamble 

This year marked the return of the annual SCL (Singapore) Conference in an ‘in-person’ format.  This Conference took on added significance, as it not only represented the 3^rd “Focus on Asia Conference” since the inaugural event in 2015, but it also coincided with the 20^th anniversary of SCL (Singapore).

The tagline of the Conference “Construction Post Covid – Getting Back to Business?” perhaps inevitably put the overriding focus onto the new landscape that COVID-19 has created for the industry as a whole.  However, not content with the generic, our esteemed speakers were always looking to expand this horizon to incorporate and address other looming issues facing the industry.

From the ever-present and growing issue of sustainability, to the opportunities and challenges created by advancing technologies, our audience was treated to the generous sharing of expertise and insights of our speakers from start to finish.

It might just be me, but there seems to be something extra special about the return to in-person events after a 2-year hiatus in Singapore.  While the ‘learning’ aspect of such events can be delivered effectively on a virtual platform, there really is no substitute to the personal connections and interactions that we can now enjoy again.  The Conference this year truly encapsulated that spirit of personal connection, as guests travelled from far and wide to attend.

With that, I hope you enjoy our Special Report on the 3^rd Focus on Asia Conference below.

Contributed by:
Chris Rudland – Chair, SCL (Singapore) Publications Committee

Opening Session: “In Conversation with The Building and Construction Authority of Singapore” with Mr. Kelvin Wong - CEO, Building and Construction Authority of Singapore

Mr. Wong gave an overview of the challenges faced in the construction industry over the COVID period. He was concerned that the construction industry was becoming increasingly fragmented with low differentiators between construction firms. There was also an increasingly unhealthy dependence on foreign labour.

The industry is not as productive as it can be. Building components are not standardised, there are many abortive jobs and job opportunities are insufficiently attractive to attract the right talent. This was, in his view, an unsustainable environment. The adversarial contracting environment (“developers vs contractors”) was also less than ideal with the situation being more likely to worsen in the current volatile times.

He went on to mention that the industry should look towards greater internationalisation in its outlook, given the much bigger market outside of Singapore. From that perspective, there were opportunities for stakeholders to partner up together to deliver more sophisticated building solutions with increased creativity. This, in his view, would be more sustainable in the longer term.

Mr. Wong commented that the Government would consider how it could best encourage the “right” behaviour and incentivise the “right” parties - Stakeholders who were willing to consider a longer term view in their contracting partnerships, and who were keen to share both the “downside” and the “upside” of any opportunity.

In his closing remarks, Mr. Wong mentioned that the BCA has been encouraging collaborative in the local construction industry as an alternative to the current more adversarial contracting arrangements. This, he felt, will facilitate a change in mindset for industry players and stakeholders towards a more partnership-based approach to construction.

Contributed by:
Adrian Wong - Director, Head of Projects, Herbert Smith Freehills

Session 1 : Rethinking Buildings – Challenges and Opportunities of Transitioning to Net Zero

This session was moderated by Praveen Hassan Chandrashekar, who shared with the audience the approach to designing the SJ Campus. This project is a flagship of optimised passive design which embraces environment, social and health resilience. It is the first building to achieve Green Mark Platinum Super Low Energy by floor area to date.

Henry Woon spoke about biomimicry. Technically any urban design that mimics or takes inspiration from nature falls under the category of biomimicry. Henry illustrated this by using the termites mound and anthills as an example of nature-inspired architecture. Chimneys in the top of the anthill circulate hot air through its top while cool air remains in the bottom of the anthill where the queen hangs out. Architects looking for ways to keep building cool amid rising temperatures may find that nature has some surprising tricks.

Dr Loo Kok Hoo canvassed the idea of transforming the Malay house into an eco-model and shared his rich experience in biophilic designs which is an approach that seeks to connect building occupants more closely to nature and embraces natural lighting and ventilation, natural landscape features and other elements to create a more conducive and healthy living and working environment.

Finally, Carol Battle provided an overview of the principles of design for circularity being the key to addressing total carbon emissions. She also shared how technology can be harnessed to encourage collaboration and facilitate the decision making process.

Contributed by:
Moon Kua - Associate Director, Driver Trett; Chair 2022-2024,Society of Construction Law (Singapore)

Session 2: Reimagining Finance – Sustainable Investment and Financing of Large Scale Infrastructure

Session 2 explored the role of sustainability in investment and financing decisions in large scale infrastructure projects.

Alex Wong moderated a panel comprising Jackson Goh, Jennifer Tay and Benjamin Henry Towell, speaking to the perspectives of infrastructure owners, policy makers and financiers.           

There was consensus that infrastructure is a high carbon emission industry, where lenders and funders are increasingly conscious about the ESG policies of potential borrowers. Energy heavy industries within the sector experience a particular push for ESG consciousness amongst borrowers, the data centre industry being one such industry.

Many lenders (banks for example) themselves have ESG targets. When they look at financing large scale infrastructure projects, it becomes important whether the borrowing companies themselves have adequate ESG policies. This provides lenders the ability, and the responsibility, to influence the industry players towards adopting suitable ESG policies.   

The role of policy makers then is to set the rules of the game and referee it. This also impacts the attractiveness of potential investments, where the country of investment is one of the factors often considered. A strong and clear regulatory framework attracts investment.

No doubt ESG screening for investments is here to stay.

Contributed by:
Yong Neng Chan - Senior Associate, Pinsent Masons

Session 3: “Re-Engineering Project Conception - Implementation Till Completion and Beyond”

Session 3 essentially brought together heads of several SCL in the region (namely SCL(Indian)’s chair of western chapter – Mr. Vyapak Desai, SCL(Korea)’s chair of International Relations – Ms Sue Kim, SCL(Malaysia)’s chair - Mr. Sivabalan Sankaran, and SCL(Viet Nam)’s chair – Ms Nguyen Nam Trung.

Moderated by (and speaking from the Singapore perspective) SCL(Singapore)’s 2012-14 Chair and of its International Relations Committee - Mr. Anil Changaroth, the panel considered/addressed (in relation to re-engineering projects from conception, implementation to completion):

1. What the current state (post covid) of the construction industry in the repetitive countries/ - critically that the respective jurisdictions’ industries (as with many across the world) are on recovery mode with urgent requirements/improvements for manpower and supply chain much of which are supported/guided by their respective governments.

2. What the Construction Industries have in place towards Sustainability of project throughout its life cycle – the panel shared India’s National Infrastructure Pipeline for FY 2019–25; Korea’s Framework Act on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth; Malaysia’s Revision of the Uniform Building By-Laws to incorporate the Malaysian Standard: Code of Practice on Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy for Non-Residential Buildings (MS1525); Singapore’s 4th edition of Singapore Green Building Masterplan (titled “Build Our Green Future Together”)  part of Singapore Green Plan 2030; and Vietnam’s Vietnam issued Decision 882/QD-TTg approving the National Action Plan for Green Development for 2021-2030.

3. What innovative trends are being considered/implemented towards environmental sustainability – the panel discussed India’s Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment, National Buildings Code of India andEnergy Conservation Building Code; Malaysia’s features and designs, and use green building materials as per the Skim Penarafan Hijau Jabatan Kerja Raya Malaysia, optimistic outlook towards the Construction Strategy Plan 4.0 as it is a follow up from the Construction Industry Transformation Plan (introduced in 2016); Singapore’s Built Environment Living Laboratory Framework, launched by the Building and Construction Authority in September 2020; and Vietnam’s  E-Procurement (Official started since 2017 with Circular 04/2017/TT-BKHDT).

This panel truly represented the essence of the Conference – Focus on Asia and submitted a joint paper (that was made available to the Conference participants).

Contributed by:
Anil Changaroth - Managing Director (and General Counsel) of ChangAroth InterNational Consultancy and ChangAroth Chambers LLC; Council Member, Society of Construction Law (Singapore)

Session 4 : Debate on the motion “This House Believes that Renewables are the Beating Heart of a Sustainable Future”

We were privileged and pleased to have Justice Jeyaretnam and Marion Smith KC once again to bring their inimitable eloquence and charm to the SCL Annual Conference debate. They were joined by Jon Howes, Kelvin Teo and Deya Dubey, and together they brought knowledge, thoughtfulness but also levity to the debate.

Justice Jeyaretnam moderated the session. He set the tone well when he said he had accepted the invitation to moderate, and could think of no better way of spending the afternoon, because ordinarily he would similarly be listening to lawyers argue and make lame jokes in court. This would indeed foreshadow repeated analogising of renewable energy to hair, whether on the head or growing in other places.

The proposition argued that whilst we did not have all the answers for how renewables would solve all the pressing problems caused by oil and gas, it would certainly be part of the solution in future to try and achieve sustainability. What was important was the struggle to live and the desire to improve.

The opposition argued that it was not good enough to rely on renewables, that they made up only a small percentage of total energy output, and that they would never be the beating heart until oil and gas ran out.

The audience was drawn into personal reflection, as the opposition argued that the “beating heart” of the future is every one of us and the individual behaviours and choices that we make.  The argument ran that people could not simply rely on renewables as the magic bullet to all of the evils of human consumption, without changing our behaviour and choices. 

Members of the audience joined in and made various thought provoking points for and against the motion. There was a discussion about the cost of renewables over its entire life cycle and the other costs of a relentless push towards renewables that were being ignored.

When the final vote was tallied, it was somewhat close, but the proposition team managed to prevail.

In closing, there was a somewhat controversial question asked that if the evils of human consumption were creating the mess we were currently seeing, then perhaps population control or consumption control was another possible solution to the evils.

All in all, the debate was all of the 3 “E”s – it was Engaging, Enlightening and Entertaining. It was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon.

Contributed by:
Kelvin Teo - Director, Drew & Napier

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