Desmond Lee, Minister for Social and Family Development and Second Minister for National Development
Singapore unveiled today, the Construction Industry Transformation map, an ambitious plan that aims to transform the local construction industry to address challenges in the future building sector.
It will see the industry, unions, institutes of higher learning and the government collaborating to achieve these goals, many of which have come about in light of the digital revolution, rapid urbanisation and climate change.
“To be honest, we are a bit behind in these areas but we are nimble so we will not just catch up but aim to leapfrog our competition,” said Mr Desmond Lee, Minister for Social and Family Development and Second Minister for National Development.
He was speaking this morning at the opening of Singapore Construction Productivity Week held at Singapore Expo.
The roadmap highlights effective and productive construction methods in three areas including Design for Manufacturing & Assembly (DfMA), green building and integrated digital delivery.
DfMA moves aspects of construction into a manufacturing plant where structural components can be prefabricated before assembling onsite. This means projects can be completed faster, cleaner and quieter. By 2020, Singapore aims to achieve 40 per cent DfMA adoption.
Integrated digital delivery (IDD) will see the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and virtual design and construction to help the better coordination of production, delivery and installation of building modules.
To this end, Singapore aims to train 80,000 professionals specialising in green building design, DfMA and IDD by 2025, which will “create new niche areas and jobs for Singaporeans,” Mr Lee said.
He added, “What we are doing is ambitious but this is necessary. We want the same thing, a vibrant and successful built environment sector. We want cutting edge capabilites right here in our small island.”
Singapore Construction Productivity Week and Buildtech Asia runs from Oct 24 to 26.
