Background and the 1st Green Building Master Plan
Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority (BCA) - a Ministry of National Development agency established by the Building Control Act - released the 1st Green Building Master Plan in 2005. It details a phased approach to "green" both new and existing buildings in Singapore. The 1st Green Building Master Plan introduced a Green Mark Incentive Scheme rating system to assess new public sector buildings and those undergoing major retrofitting in terms of the following five key criteria:
Points are awarded to buildings incorporating environment-friendly features that are better than normal practices. The overall assessment and point scoring determines which of the four existing BCA certifications will be awarded. The following are the BCA certifications arranged from the highest to the most basic rating: (i) "Green Mark Platinum"; (ii) "Green Mark Gold (Plus)"; (iii) "Green Mark Gold" and (iv) "Green Mark Certified."
The Building Control Act was amended in April 2008, which led to the issuance of the Building Control (Environmental Sustainability) Regulations 2008 and the Code for Environmental Sustainability of Buildings (now in its third edition). These regulations required the following types of new or existing buildings to achieve a basic Green Mark certification:
The 2nd Green Building Master Plan
In 2009, the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Sustainable Development created a nationwide strategy requiring 80% of all Singapore buildings to reduce energy use and emission production, and achieve a Green Mark Certified rating by 2030. In response to this strategy, the BCA released an expanded 2nd Green Building Master Plan imposing higher certification requirements, which are as follows:
The Building Control (Environmental Sustainability Measures for Existing Buildings) Regulations 2013 and the Code on Environmental Sustainability Measures for Existing Buildings (first edition) have extended the requirements to achieve a basic Green Mark certification when installing central water-cooled or air-cooled chiller, or replacing it with a unitary air-conditioning system. These extended requirements apply to the following types of buildings:
The 3rd Green Building Master Plan
In September 2014, after consultation with industry stakeholders and input from the 3rd International Panel of Experts on Sustainability of the Built Environment, the BCA developed the 3rd Green Building Masterplan to accelerate the pace of green building development. The BCA noted that since the launch of the BCA Green Mark scheme in 2005, the number of green buildings in Singapore has grown exponentially. From only 17 in 2005, green buildings grew to more than 2,100 in 2014, which translates to about 62 million square meters of gross floor area, equivalent to 25% of the total built-up areas in Singapore. As of September 2015, BCA reported that more than 2,500 buildings are now Green Mark certified. This translates to 29% of Singapore’s total built-up gross floor area. Based on these figures, the BCA estimates it is on schedule toward meeting the target of greening 80% of all of Singapore’s buildings by 2030.
The 3rd Green Building Master Plan intends to undertake the following: