31 May 2019
DSTA received five Green Mark (GM) awards – including four Platinum awards – for delivering buildings with sustainable design, construction and operations. This also marked the first time where the SAF's facilities have been recognised for achieving Zero Energy standards.
Presented by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) on 29 May 2019, the awards are based on a benchmarking scheme which comprises key criteria including energy and water efficiency, environmental protection and indoor environmental quality. The scheme also takes into account other green and innovative features that help enhance the building's performance.
Director (Infrastructure) Tan Tze Leng (left) received the Zero Energy award from Minister of State from the Ministry of National Development and the Ministry of Manpower Zaqy Mohamad
The awards were an added affirmation for the teams that delivered the Kranji camp and the Seletar camp facilities – which attained the GM Platinum (Zero Energy) award and the GM Gold Plus (Zero Energy) award respectively. While these buildings had already been awarded with GM certification earlier, the teams continued exploring other sustainable approaches.
The teams eventually installed solar panels for the buildings to generate sufficient renewable energy for their own use. These efforts were aligned with BCA's Super Low Energy Challenge launched in September 2018, which DSTA had pledged towards for the development of energy-efficient buildings though design efforts and cost-effective technologies. The Kranji building is also the first accommodation facility in Singapore to use mass engineered timber, a natural and renewable material that has a lighter carbon footprint than steel or concrete.
Additionally, the entire DSTA Integrated Complex was recognised with the GM Platinum award. Designed and managed in-house, the complex comprises the Defence Technology Tower A which was newly awarded, and the Annex Building which was recertified with the same award. With green initiatives such as active chilled beams, rainwater harvesting and more, the team went beyond conventional engineering methods to enhance environmental sustainability.
Green features were also incorporated in the Defence Technology Tower B (DTTB), which received GM Platinum certification. By improving the aircon system and implementing other energy-efficient initiatives such as highly efficient air handling units with electronically commutated fans, highly efficient LED lights and regenerative lift features, the team achieved energy savings of 1,500,000kWh per year for DTTB – enough to power about 270 HDB five-room flats for a year!
