We’ve been reading up on the ‘Green Mark’ awards in Singapore, launched by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) in January 2005 to promote environmental awareness in the construction and real estate sectors. It is a benchmarking scheme that aims to achieve a sustainable built environment by incorporating best practices in environmental design and construction, and the adoption of green building technologies.
There are three recently opened malls in Singapore that have achieved significant innovation in their car park designs.
City Square Mall, which opened in September on Kitchener Road, is the first mall to win the Platinum award, the highest accolade from Green Mark. In the car park, innovation includes a focus on energy efficient lighting, with motion sensors used to control lighting levels in the basement levels. The car park also features designated priority parking spaces for Hybrid cars.
At 313@Somerset, an Orchard Road mall, features include an intelligent lighting control system via BMS and lighting sensors in the atrium,; the design features a roof top car park to save energy during the day, acting as a natural heat shield into the Centre. The car park also provides priority parking for low emission vehicles such as those running on CNG and hybrid cars as well as for parents with prams.
One of our favourite innovations at 313@Somerset is the carbon offsetting strategy being adopted by the car park. A small portion of the car parking fees is being used to fund solar panels to be built on the development with the objective of offsetting the carbon generated by vehicles driving to the mall.
The BCA Green Mark Awards began in 2005 to assess how green buildings are based on their design concepts and energy models to show the estimated energy savings. Buildings need not be completed to be awarded.