SINGAPORE – Three commercial buildings that incorporated long-term maintenance features into their design saved manpower and upkeep costs of up to nearly $1 million each year, a new BCA study has found.

When such “Design for Maintainability” (DfM) elements were integrated into a new residential project, the cost savings were up to $110,000 a year, said National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat.

Speaking at the Singapore Architecture Festival or Archifest on July 22, Chee said the study – which assessed the benefits of the design features and is the first of its kind – involved four buildings in Singapore.

The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) worked with Surbana Jurong to study two existing commercial buildings, one new commercial project, and the new residential development.

They are: the Surbana Jurong campus, the Ascent building in Science Park Drive, Shaw Tower and Copen Grand executive condominium.

Chee said: “Across the three commercial buildings studied, the potential annual operational savings from adopting DfM ranged from $310,000 to $950,000...

“For the residential development, the potential operational savings can be up to $110,000 a year.”

In his speech, he added that so far, 67 projects have got the Green Mark maintainability badge for adopting DfM measures.

Chee said BCA has been encouraging the built environment sector to adopt a DfM mindset, which entails incorporating longer-term maintainability considerations into the design process and investing more capital expenditure upfront, to enjoy greater cost and manpower savings across the building’s life cycle.

For instance, Shaw Tower included a simple cat-ladder access to its cooling tower, which enabled efficient, safe, and easy access to maintain the fan and basin at the top, instead of setting up scaffolding each time maintenance is needed.

“With this, Shaw Tower can enjoy lifecycle savings of over $75...