Paya Lebar Green – set to be one of the greenest, healthiest and smartest workplaces in Singapore – has been awarded the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) Green Mark Platinum Super Low Energy certification under the latest Green Mark 2021 scheme.
In a first for Singapore, Paya Lebar Green has also been awarded the highest accolade receiving all five sustainability badges in both New Non-Residential and Existing Non-Residential Building categories under the latest Green Mark 2021 scheme: the Health and Wellbeing (Hw), Resilience (Re), Whole Life Carbon (Cn), Intelligence (In), and Maintainability (Mt) badges across its two buildings.
Situated along Paya Lebar Road previously occupied by Certis Headquarters, Paya Lebar Green broke ground on 1 December 2022. The development comprises two buildings come 2024 – a brand new, 12-storey South building and the refurbished eight storey North building, where the new Certis Group Headquarters will be located at. The project is jointly developed by Certis and Lendlease.
This achievement demonstrates both Certis and Lendlease’s commitment as partners to meet the “80- 80-80 in 2030” outlined in the Singapore Green Building Masterplan: the first 80 is a target to green 80% of buildings by Gross Floor Area (GFA) by 2030, the next 80 is for 80% of new developments by GFA to be certified as Super Low Energy (SLE) from 2030 and the last 80 is to achieve 80% improvement in energy efficiency for best-in-class green buildings over the 2005 baseline by 2030.
Mr Paul Chong, President & Group Chief Executive Officer, Certis, shared, “We set out right from the start to make this redevelopment of our headquarters an example of what we can achieve when we bring together technology and experience to create long-term, sustainable solutions fit for the future of working patterns and the needs of our people. I’m glad we have secured this certification by BCA in recognition of our efforts and look forward to helping raise the sustainability standards of both buildings new and old across Singapore and beyond.”
Ms Ng Hsueh Ling, Managing Director, Lendlease Singapore, added, “Paya Lebar Green represents our wider global effort to reach our Mission Zero goals of Absolute Zero by 2040. Bringing our development expertise and Certis’ technology together, we will make Paya Lebar Green an exemplar not just of our joint green commitments, but one where we prioritise occupants’ wellbeing and productivity.”
Mr Ang Kian Seng, Group Director of the Environmental Sustainability Group at the Building and Construction Authority, said, “Green buildings have good return on investment over their life cycle, and they also help cushion building owners from the heightened risk of volatile energy prices. With more than 100 Super Low Energy buildings to date, we are seeing more developers and building owners striving to achieve higher energy performance using innovative design and technologies. With features such as hybrid cooling and onsite photovoltaics (PV), supported by an advanced smart facilities management platform, Paya Lebar Green is the first building to attain all five sustainability badges under Green Mark 2021. It demonstrates that going beyond Super Low Energy standard is achievable for both new and redevelopment projects.”
Lendlease will bring its expertise in green and sustainable construction with a focus on minimising environmental impact by reducing direct carbon onsite emissions, recycling building materials, and using low embodied carbon materials and renewable energy sources. The project is slated to attain a more than 80% overall recycling rate for construction and demolition waste.
Visitors to Paya Lebar Green can expect various tech-enhanced health and well-being features drawn from Certis’ Smart Facilities Management capabilities. The buildings will offer embedded solutions such as enhanced filtration systems and bi-polar ionisation, to IoT sensors measuring occupancy, optimising light levels and temperatures for a comfortable yet sustainable working environment, while providing environmental data analytics for continuous operational efficiency improvements. The embedded smart and sustainable solutions will help achieve greater energy performance for the buildings. Aside from its quality indoor environment, Paya Lebar Green will also feature biodiverse, vertical greenery.
Paya Lebar Green has also received other accolades beyond the Green Mark Platinum Super Low Energy certification. Paya Lebar Green South has received the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) WELL Core Silver pre-certification which attests to the development’s commitment to sustainability, health and well-being and people-centric design, and the WiredScore Platinum certification for digital connectivity, which is the global accreditor’s highest-awarded rating. Paya Lebar Green North has received the WiredScore Gold.