Singapore – The Building and Construction Authority, together with industry stakeholders, is taking decisive steps to help the Built Environment (BE) sector seize emerging opportunities by launching three new initiatives aimed at strengthening our BE firms and talents, increasing the adoption of digitalisation, and developing the local construction technology (ConTech) ecosystem. These were unveiled by Mr Desmond Lee, Minister for National Development and Minister-in-charge of Social Services Integration, at the International Built Environment Week (IBEW) on 4 September 2024. This will ensure Singapore’s BE sector remains progressive and resilient, ready to push the next bound of transformation and meet Singapore’s infrastructure development needs.

Taskforce for Architectural and Engineering Consultants

The taskforce is set up as the BE sector gears up to meet the needs of longer-term infrastructure and building projects like the Long Island, Greater Southern Waterfront, Changi Terminal 5, Tuas Megaport, new rail infrastructure, public housing and more.

To ensure that Singapore has a capable and talented pipeline of BE professionals and firms to deliver on these infrastructure plans, Mr Lee announced the setup of a taskforce for Architectural and Engineering Consultants, co-led by Ms Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Second Minister for Finance and Second Minister for National Development and Mr Chaly Mah, Chairman of Surbana Jurong Group (details in Annex A). The taskforce will build on existing efforts to strengthen the architectural and engineering consultancy professions, through working on the following areas: 

- Uplifting branding of the BE sector and strengthening talent inflow;

- Transforming the workforce and workplaces for the future;

- Evolving existing BE consultancy business models; and

- Propagating sustainable industry practices.

Employing more than 31,000 people, the architectural and engineering consultants are responsible for designing and planning buildings and infrastructure that Singaporeans interact with daily. In doing so, the consultants work closely with the developers, builders and agencies to ensure that buildings are safe, of high quality, and meet users’ needs.

Enhancing the appreciation of the BE sector

In line with the objectives of enhancing Singaporeans’ appreciation of the BE sector, Mr Lee also announced the start of the BuildSG branding campaign, themed “We are Never Done Building Singapore”. The campaign seeks to highlight the contributions of the BE sector in building and maintaining living spaces for generations of Singaporeans. It will also showcase the stories of how BE professionals and firms have transformed the way we build Singapore, as well as the opportunities and purpose offered by BE careers.

Propagating more progressive industry practices

In the move towards more progressive procurement practices, Mr Lee also announced that the enhancements to the Standard Consultancy Agreement (SCA) for public sector projects (details in Annex C) will be ready for implementation for projects with tenders called from 1 November 2024 onwards. Reviewed in collaboration with the relevant industry associations and agencies, the enhancements would benefit consultants by supporting:

- fairer and more timely remuneration,

- clearer definitions of service scope, and

- a more balanced allocation of contractual risks.

Further details on the implementation of SCA enhancements will be shared with industry stakeholders via an industry circular.

Launch of the refreshed Built Environment Industry Digital Plan (BE IDP)

Digitalisation is a key enabler for the BE sector, facilitating newer and better ways to improve productivity and project delivery outcomes. SMEs especially, have taken strong interest in deepening their digital capabilities – this is evident from the strong take-up rate from over 900 SMEs of pre-approved digital solutions from the Construction and Facilities Management IDP launched in March 2020, supported under the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG).

Riding on this momentum, BCA and IMDA, in close consultation with about 400 industry stakeholders from the BE sector, jointly developed the refreshed BE Industry Digital Plan (BE IDP), aligned with the three key Transformation Areas identified in the BE Industry Transformation Map (ITM) – Integrated Planning and Design, Advanced Manufacturing and Assembly, and Sustainable Urban Systems. Mr Lee announced the refreshed BE IDP at IBEW 2024, which is designed to further support the needs of SMEs in their journey to digitalise, enhance digital capabilities and improve overall efficiency.

To address policy and technological shifts, new digital solution categories such as Digital Contract Management and Smart Inspection and Management have been introduced in the refreshed Digital Solutions roadmap. These new categories of solutions can equip firms with tools to better manage contracts and projects, and harness data for better project delivery outcomes. The refreshed BE IDP also streamlines existing categories, making it easier for SMEs to select suitable solutions. Information on more recent and emerging technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled solutions, have also been made available in the refreshed IDP. For SMEs that are keen, they may tap on the PSG to defray the adoption cost of pre-approved solutions.

The IDP also now includes a new roadmap on cybersecurity and data protection, to guide SMEs on how to safeguard their systems against cyberattacks. The Digital Skills Training roadmap has also been refreshed, to guide SMEs in their digitalisation journey.

The BE IDP will empower stakeholders in the BE sector to collaborate in planning and design through integrated digital tools, achieve cost-effective and safer manufacturing and fabrication, and efficiently monitor and automate asset management for optimised performance (details in Annex D).

Advancing transformative journey with Innovation & Technology (I&T)

Mr Lee also launched the inaugural Construction Technology (ConTech) Summit at IBEW 2024. “ConTech” refers to a collection of cutting-edge and innovative construction technologies which can be adopted by the wider BE sector. Such solutions help firms transform their operations, and drive productivity and sustainability. With ConTech adoption gaining traction globally, the Summit aims to bring together international and local IBEW participants and leading global experts to discuss and explore the use of emerging ConTech solutions. The summit will also bring together key stakeholders (e.g. innovators, start-ups, Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs), venture capital firms etc.) who are catalysing the adoption and application of Innovation and Technology (I&T) to transform the BE sector. (details in Annex E).

BCA will continue to play a facilitative role in connecting both local and international stakeholders to drive I&T advancements. Efforts such as the ConTech Summit will help raise awareness of Singapore as an ideal market to testbed and develop ConTech solutions for the wider region. In tandem, BCA will continue to support the development of the ConTech ecosystem through the Built Environment Accelerate to Market Programme (BEAMP).