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MEDIA RELEASE

DESIGN & ENGINEERING SAFETY EXCELLENCE AWARD 2009


Singapores tallest residential building gets BCAs engineering safety
award

1. The engineering behind a building is usually not topmost on our mind


when we see or talk about a building and its design. However, the engineering
works is what made the construction of a building possible. It also has a high
impact on public safety in terms of the safety of a building as well as during its
construction.

2. To recognise the engineers who have upheld high standards to ensure


safety during the construction of recent buildings and structures, BCA conferred 8
engineers and their project teams with the BCA Design and Engineering Safety
Excellence Award this year. There were 3 awards and 5 merits.

3. The Sail@Marina Bay, with towers among the most slender buildings in
the world of such height, is one of the challenging construction projects. First, it
sits on reclaimed land which has variable soil conditions and close to it was the
existing underground North-South MRT line. Any major movement of the soft
soils during the construction of the building would have undesirable
consequences. Second, it is a fact that all tall buildings sway under wind loads
but the occupants usually cannot feel it. For The Sail@Marina Bay, due to the
tall and slender nature of the building, the engineers had to take extra
engineering measures to manage the sway under wind loads to ensure the same
level of comfort for its residents.

4. Hence, the engineers came up with several ingenious engineering ideas to


tackle the above challenges:
Creative orientation of the development to avoid locating the twin towers
directly over the MRT tunnels.

Devised an innovative parallel-coupled-shear-wall system to limit the sway


and acceleration of the building.

Modular and repetitive structural framing to reduce typical floor-cycle-time to


only 5 days while achieving an exceptional structural Construction Quality
Assessment System (CONQUAS) score of 99.5.

High strength (Grade 80) concrete for the buildings was developed for the first
time in Singapore to minimise perimeter column sizes by about 30%.

5. Engineers rarely come across a project with so many unprecedented


challenges, it has been our privilege to work on this prestigious development,
being the tallest residential development in Singapore. said Dr S. Nasim,
Managing Director of Meinhardt (Singapore) Pte Ltd.

6. The Henderson Waves was another engineering project that required


special considerations to reduce movements on the bridge. Tuned mass
dampers had to be incorporated into the structural system to balance the
resonant vibration should there be a mass of people running on the 57 metre
span footbridge.

7. The construction of the Kallang-Paya Lebar expressway (Contract 423),


which involved massive excavation works next to high-rise buildings, also had to
be planned and executed carefully. It also won the safety award by BCA.

8. Mr Ong See Ho, Commissioner of Building Control, BCA said, Through


this award, BCA aims to inculcate a strong safety culture among building
professionals in developing our built environment. At the same time, we hope to
raise awareness of the importance of engineers and their role in contributing to a
safe built environment for all.
9. The 8 winners will join another 100 over recipients to receive the BCA
Awards on 27 May evening.

Issued by the Building and Construction Authority on 25 May 2009


Design and Engineering Safety Excellence Award
(DESEA)

1. The BCA Design and Engineering Safety Excellence Award for Built
Environment was launched on 26 October 2007 as part of BCAs efforts in
ensuring high safety standards in the built environment and inculcating a strong
safety culture in the building industry. The Award gives recognition to the efforts
taken by the qualified person for structural works, his firm and the project team
for ingenious design processes and solutions in overcoming project challenges
and ensuring safety in the design, construction and maintenance of building and
civil engineering projects locally and overseas. Through this Award, BCA hopes
to encourage industry professionals to make a more concerted effort to create a
safe built environment for all.

2. The assessment criteria of the Award cover two key aspects in the building
development, namely safety in design and construction. The criteria on assessing
safety in design include design processes and solutions that emphases safety,
quality approach in design, details and specifications, and design for safe
operation and maintenance. For safety in construction, points will also be
awarded for high standards of site management and efforts to ensure building
and public safety beyond the statutory requirements. The project team will have
to demonstrate that they had well-defined supervision procedures, inspection
regime, QA/QC plan testing and monitoring programmes and other safety efforts,
such as provisions to manage a safe and clean environment and adoption of
structural systems, to minimise impact to surrounding properties.

3. For the 2009 Awards, the number of categories has been increased from
two to five. The 5 categories are namely Residential, Commercial, Institutional &
Industrial, Civil Engineering and Oversea projects. A total of 18 nominations were
received. There were eight winners in the competition consisting of 3 Award
Winners and 5 Merit Awards. The Awards will continue to give recognition to
qualified person for structural works, their firms and project team for ensuring
safe buildings.
ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE
4. An assessment committee, chaired by BCA Board Member, Mr Pek Lian
Guan, was set up to assess and judge the entries. The committee comprised of
esteemed representatives from universities and building industry with
representatives from both ACES and IES.

Assessment Committee
Chairman Mr Pek Lian Guan BCA Board Member
Deputy Managing Director
Tiong Seng Contractors Pte Ltd
Dr Tan Teng Hooi Nanyang Technological University/T Y Lin
International (SEA) Pte Ltd (Oct 08 - present)
A/Prof Harry Tan Siew National University of Singapore
Ann
Ms Rita Soh Singapore Institute of Architects
Er Yap Tiem Yew Housing Development Board
Members
Er Lim Chong Sit Association of Consulting Engineers
Er Chan Ewe Jin Institution of Engineers Singapore
Er Dr. Shahzad Nasim Meinhardt Singapore Pte Ltd
Er Lai Huen Poh RSP Architects Planners & Engineers Pte Ltd
Er Ong See Ho Building and Construction Authority
DESIGN AND ENGINEERING
SAFETY EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2009
Residential Category - Award

The Sail @ Marina Bay


Qualified Er. Dr. Shahzad Nasim
Person
C&S Meinhardt (Singapore)
Consultant Pte Ltd
Builder Dragages Singapore Pte
Ltd
Developer Glengary Pte Ltd
(City Developments Ltd
and American
International Group)
Architectural NBBJ Ltd (New York);
Consultant Team Design Architects
Pte Ltd
Construction Approx. S$300 million
Cost

Challenges
Singapores tallest residential building with towers that are among the most
slender buildings in the world.
Design and construct the huge development (1,111 units) in a congested site
which is located over existing MRT subway tunnels and on reclaimed land
with variable soil conditions within 40 months.

Solutions and Features


Creative orientation of the development to avoid locating the twin towers
directly over the MRT tunnels.
Devised an innovative parallel-coupled-shear-wall system to resist building
gravitational and design seismic forces whilst limiting the sway and
acceleration.
Modular and repetitive structural framing reduced typical floor-cycle-time to
only 5 days while achieving an exceptional structural CONQUAS score of
99.5.
High strength (Grade 80) concrete for the buildings was developed (first time
in Singapore) to minimise perimeter column sizes and mitigate differential
vertical movements between various elements.
DESIGN AND ENGINEERING
SAFETY EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2009
Civil Engineering Category - Award

Henderson Waves
Qualified Er Lai Huen Poh
Person
C&S RSP Architects Planners
Consultants & Engineers (Pte) Ltd;
Adam Kara Taylor
Consulting Civil and
Structural Engineers, UK
Builder Evan Lim & Co Pte Ltd
Developer Urban Redevelopment
Authority (URA)
Architectural RSP Architects Planners
Consultants & Engineers (Pte) Ltd;
IJP Corporation Ltd, UK
Construction S$12.43 million
Cost

Challenges
Design for structural robustness and serviceability due to the complex and
three dimensional skeleton form of the footbridge as well as fabricating it.
Assembling and erection of the 57 metres span of the footbridge that crossed
above Henderson Road.
Protecting the existing and extensive underground services above footbridge
footing.

Solutions and Features


Sophisticated 3D structural models for static and dynamic analysis were
performed by competent staffs.
Tuned mass dampers incorporated into the structural system to balance the
resonant vibration if a group of people runs on the 57m span footbridge.
A comprehensive set of temporary towers with condeck platforms was
deployed to protect public vehicles from falling debris during footbridge
assembly.
Strand Jacks lifting system used to erect the footbridge deck.
DESIGN AND ENGINEERING
SAFETY EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2009
Civil Engineering Category - Award

Contract 423 Kallang/Paya Lebar Expressway


Qualified Person Er. You Fook Hin
Mott MacDonald
C & S Consultant
Singapore Pte Ltd
Samsung C&T
Builder
Corporation
Land Transport
Developer
Authority
Construction Cost S$364m

Challenges
The 3km KPE tunnel passes directly beneath the Pelton Canal and through a
highly urbanised environment.
Deep excavation up to 50 m in soft marine clay and highly variable ground
was done in very close proximity to high rise structures.

Solutions and Features


As full diversion of the canal was not possible for a 1.2 km section of the route
due to restricted width, the canal was diverted in multiple stages to allow the
tunnel to be constructed in two halves.
Multiple solutions for the temporary works were adopted including D-walls, T-
panel walls and Cross Walls. A large number of design zones were selected
for analysis in order to capture the variations in construction sequence,
structure geometry, foundation type, geology, retaining wall type and building
assessment requirements.
Transverse diaphragm or cross walls were adopted in order to limit wall
movements of temporary works
DESIGN AND ENGINEERING
SAFETY EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2009
Residential Category - Merit

Parc Emily Condominium


Qualified
Er. Lauw Su Wee
Person
C&S LSW Consulting
Consultant Engineers
Tiong Seng Contractors
Builder
Pte Ltd
City Developments
Developer
Limited
Architectural
ADDP Architects
Consultant
Construction
SG$60million
Cost
Challenges
Lodged in a geographically challenging (sloping) terrain with presence of old
buildings (shop houses, carpark, church) and a narrow accessway at Mount
Emily Road.

Solutions and Features


The secant pile retaining wall (approx 18m high) acted as a temporary earth
retaining system during excavation. It also served as a permanent wall upon
completion of the development. This system has provided the construction
site an encumbrance free environment for workers to work throughout the
construction periodThe use of a single layer of ground anchor instead of
conventional rows of anchors which accelerated construction time
significantly.
Raft foundation was used instead of piling to eliminate noise pollution and
vibrations.
Construction sequence was greatly simplified due to the use of the secant pile
system together with the ground anchor and raft foundation. These solutions
also mitigated risks for workers during construction and was time efficient.
DESIGN AND ENGINEERING
SAFETY EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2009
Commercial Category - Merit

Crowne Plaza Changi Airport Hotel


Qualified Person Er Lai Huen Poh
C & S Consultant RSP Architects
Planners &
Engineers (Pte) Ltd
Builder Lum Chang Building
Contractors Pte Ltd
Developer LC Airport Hotel Pte
Ltd
Architectural WOHA Architects
Consultant
Construction Cost S$80 million

Challenge
To design and construct the 9-storey hotel on an existing Terminal 3
basement carpark within 17 months.

Solutions and Features


In providing engineering solutions for the design and planning of the
architectural spatial design intent, hotel functional requirements, maintaining
the existing Terminal 3 basement carpark structure and foundations without
the need for underpinning or structural strengthening.
Integrating transfer beams at 3rd storey to support both the hotel guest room
grid and the swimming pool deck and lush landscaping requirements.
Floral motif supported by modular frames on the building envelop.
DESIGN AND ENGINEERING
SAFETY EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2009
Commercial Category - Merit

St Regis Hotel & Residences

Qualified Er Lai Huen Poh


Person
C&S RSP Architects Planners
Consultant & Engineers (Pte) Ltd
Builder Kajima Overseas Asia Pte
Ltd
Tiong Seng Contractors
(Pte) Ltd
Developer Richmond Hotel Pte Ltd
Architectural RSP Architects Planners
Consultant & Engineers (Pte) Ltd
Assoc WATG and Kiat Inc
Architectural
Consultants
Construction S$296 million
Cost

Challenges
Presence of organic clay and peat required careful planning and construction
for deep basement works.
Construction site is surrounded by 3 busy roads and a nearby old 2-storey
bungalow.

Solutions and Features


Reduction of one basement to avoid deeper excavation and use of existing
box-canal structure along Tanglin Road to act as a temporary retaining
system. The design is more economical and much faster, safer and cost
effective to construct.
Use of precast structures, unitized curtain wall and prefabricated ceramic
cladding to eliminate external scaffolds and safety netting erection.
Extensive ground instrumentation to monitor movements due to basement
works so as to eliminate damages to surrounding building structures and
services.
DESIGN AND ENGINEERING
SAFETY EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2009
Institutional & Industrial Category - Merit

Marina South Pier

Qualified
Late Er. Tan King Bing
Person
C&S Surbana International
Consultant Consultants Pte Ltd
Toa Corporation (Main
Contractor)
Builder
Ando Singapore Pte Ltd
(Building Contractor)
Maritime and Port
Developer Authority of Singapore
(MPA)
Architectural Surbana International
Consultant Consultants Pte Ltd
Construction
$34 Million
Cost
Challenges
To complete the fast-track development in a safe and efficient.

Solutions and Features


Use of highly modular and repetitive space truss system to support the unique
wavelike roof structure that spans 21m and forms a triple volume space with
9m cantilever glass canopy.
Extensive use of standardization and modularization, in conjunction with
prefabrication and precast technology in the building and 950m long jetty
structures to increase buildability, efficiency and site safety.
Implementation of systematic site, environmental management system and
occupational health and safety system to minimize the impact to the
environment and to create a safe work environment.
DESIGN AND ENGINEERING
SAFETY EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2009
Civil Engineering Category - Merit

Circle Line Stage 1 - LTA Contract 825

Qualified Person Er. Lee Chung Shek


C & S Consultant AECOM Singapore Pte
Ltd
Builder WH-STEC-NCC JV
Developer Land Transport
Authority, Singapore
Architectural Aedas Pte Ltd;
Consultant DP Architects Pte Ltd;
WOHA Architects Pte
Ltd
Construction S$450 Million
Cost

Key Challenges
Involved four underground stations with 2.6km associated bored and
cut/cover tunnels.
Excavation of up to 35 m deep in Marine Clay in densely built-up areas.
Major additions and alterations below existing Dhoby Ghaut Station with
operational North-East Line and North-South Line stations.

Solutions and Features


Top-Down construction method with diaphragm walls for the deep
excavations at Bras Basah, Esplanade and Promenade stations followed by
rapid temporary road diversion schemes.
Site monitoring and instrumentation with a robust and safe temporary earth
retaining structure scheme through active and passive ground settlement
control with usage of recharge wells and pre-installed jet grouting struts.
For Dhoby Ghaut station, unique and creative underpinning using caissons
below the existing B2-Link columns with functional travellator linking the NSL
and NEL to enable two levels basement construction below the existing
Dhoby Ghaut Station Concourse level.

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