At the International Built Environment Week (IBEW) 2026 opening ceremony, Minister for National Development Mr Chee Hong Tat announced the next phase of research and innovation funding to accelerate the built environment sector’s transformation. He also introduced strengthened industry standards to raise the bar for sustainability and quality.
Next phase of funding initiatives under Research, Innovation & Enterprise (RIE) 2030
Keeping Singapore liveable and resilient over the long term requires sustained investment in research and innovation (R&I) that will shape how Singapore builds, maintains, and renews its built environment. The Cities of Tomorrow (CoT) R&D Programme and Built Environment Technology Alliance (BETA) Catalyst Programme have secured an additional $112 million in Funding Initiatives (FIs) for the next five years to drive the next bound of R&I in four key areas, aligning with Singapore’s latest priorities.
- Advancing productive and safe demolition techniques to support urban rejuvenation needs while improving productivity and minimising disamenities in built-up areas
- Expanding capabilities in modelling building lifespan, improving building maintenance reliability and timeliness of repairs
- Strengthening focus on embodied carbon reduction and energy efficiency towards achieving net zero carbon emissions in the built environment by 2050
- Catalysing the translation of R&I outcomes into industry adoption through the Built Environment Technology Alliance (BETA) Catalyst Programme
This investment comes alongside growing industry momentum and confidence. More private sector players are investing in R&I across successive RIE tranches, such as by co-developing innovations, participating in pilot trials, or adopting promising solutions in their projects. The four FIs aim to deepen this collaboration further by bringing together BE firms, researchers, and Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) to translate promising research into practical solutions that address real-world challenges that can be adopted by industry.
The first grant call for the CoT R&D Programme is expected to launch in October 2026, with topics aligned with the R&I priorities. More details will be shared closer to the launch.
A Refreshed BCA Green Mark Version 7 to Accelerate Decarbonisation and Foster a Greener Built Environment
The BCA Green Mark Version 7 (GM v7) is the latest refresh of Singapore’s green building certification scheme. The refresh will accelerate decarbonisation of the built environment and support Singapore’s broader climate commitments under the Singapore Green Plan 2030.
The GM v7 refresh is anchored on three key objectives:
- Advance the greening of Singapore’s building stock
- Mainstream Super Low Energy buildings
- Respond to industry feedback to make sustainability more practical and achievable
To meet these objectives, GM v7 will introduce the following enhancements:
A new Energy Rating to advance the greening of Singapore’s building stock
The new Energy Rating is part of the GM v7 certification scheme and focuses solely on a building’s energy performance. It provides an alternative certification pathway for building owners to invest in energy-efficiency improvements with a clear return on investment. This approach has been successfully adopted in other international green building frameworks. The Energy Rating will enable more buildings to enter the green building ecosystem and further drive decarbonisation.
Under the Energy Rating, BCA will introduce the SLE70—a new Super Low Energy tier that is achieved by delivering over 70% energy savings against its building typology’s 2005 baseline. This challenges Singapore’s most progressive developers to demonstrate leadership and strive towards the national target of 80% energy-efficiency improvement.
Alternative Cooling Technologies (ACTs), including hybrid cooling, active chilled beams, and passive displacement cooling, can achieve up to 50% energy savings compared to conventional air-conditioning systems. To further support the industry in adopting such technologies, ACTs will now be recognised under GM v7.
Together, the new Energy Rating and inclusion of ACTs can spur industry-wide adoption of such green technologies, accelerating the mainstreaming of the Super Low Energy standard across the industry and directly supporting Singapore’s decarbonisation efforts.
Collaborative development with industry consultation
GM v7 was developed in close collaboration with industry stakeholders. It incorporates feedback from consultation sessions with over 150 organisations and 280 professionals across the built environment value chain. The result is a certification that balances sustainability ambition with practical, cost-effective implementation.
Additional enhancements in GM v7 include:
- More efficient recertification processes: Building owners with large portfolios of similar properties can recertify multiple buildings concurrently, reducing time and administrative effort. Buildings that demonstrate sustained energy performance will also benefit from an extended certification validity of up to five years, up from the current three.
- Increased competitiveness and access to green financing: GM v7 is further aligned with globally recognised Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting frameworks and international sustainability standards, reflecting the core themes that investors and sustainability reporting requirements increasingly use to evaluate real estate assets. Building owners can therefore demonstrate their sustainability performance in terms that resonate directly with the market, unlocking green financing opportunities and strengthening their competitiveness in a sustainability-conscious global economy.
New Accreditation Scheme for site supervision firms
As Singapore’s built environment advances with increasingly complex projects, built environment firms must build up a broad range of technical competencies to meet supervision demands. To address this, from 2028, large-scale structural works projects valued above $75 million will be required to appoint BCA-licensed firms to carry out site supervision services.
Additionally, there is increasing adoption of remote site supervision (RSS) across the sector. This enables firms to supervise multiple project sites virtually by leveraging digital tools and technologies such as data platforms, smart glasses, and live streaming devices, while maintaining rigorous governance and standardised operating procedures. Engaging BCA-licensed firms for supervision will ensure projects benefit from the necessary firm-level resources, expertise, and the latest technological developments to meet evolving demands and deliver safer, higher-quality infrastructure for Singaporeans.
To give developers and builders greater confidence in the firms they appoint, the Singapore Accreditation Council (SAC) has launched the Site Supervision Firm (SSF) Accreditation Scheme. Firms must first be accredited under this scheme before they can be licensed by BCA to provide mandatory site supervision services for large-scale structural works projects.
To be accredited, firms must meet stringent requirements for competence, impartiality, and consistent operations for inspection bodies in accordance with ISO/IEC 17020. They must also demonstrate the necessary technical expertise, staffing, and professional experience, and have structured training programmes in place.
The SSF Accreditation Scheme will strengthen safety and quality, while building industry capacity and knowledge retention. It will also give developers and builders greater confidence in the service they are buying. Developers and builders are encouraged to engage accredited site supervision firms before the new requirements take effect in 2028.
