A developer of business space, Ascendas, is helping to spread the “green message” with an eco-friendly office. It is showcasing its newly-renovated office at the Singapore Science Park as a next-generation office during its very own Green Month.
The premises in The Galen have an open concept to tap maximum daylight, which in turn helps to save energy.
Chief Development Planning Officer of Ascendas, Arthur Aw, said that by opening up the peripheral walls, the number of people who can enjoy daylight has been increased by seven times.
Work stations come with individual lighting, so that common lighting can be switched on and off to reduce wastage.
Recycled material is also used extensively. The walls for example, are made of recycled wood.
The office does not have a fixed layout, making it easier to reorganise the workspace to promote a collaborative and paperless work culture.
Mr Aw said that with the layout, filing systems have been reduced by 40 per cent.
Mr Aw said: “The most important thing to me… to a sustainable office, is not just about all this energy-saving and lighting, but about our behaviour and about maximising use of space. As you can see, that we don’t just design individual work space, we design a common work space so that people can use the space for multiple uses… (like) meetings, gatherings, team-bonding, resting time, lunch time.
“This is also to do with the new generation of workers. We believe that with the green awareness, multi-tasking and work-life (balance) have become increasingly common. We believe in testing this out, a new kind of collaborative culture, a new mindset of working; working, playing and enjoying together. And we hope that this will be the true sustainable office.”
The month-long campaign, which aims to raise awareness on environmental issues with its tenants and the community, was launched by Chairman of the Singapore Environment Council, Isabella Loh.
About half a million dollars was spent on renovating the office.
Executive Vice-President of Real Estate Services at Ascendas, Lim Sin Tiow, said: “The objective behind Ascendas launch is to basically get our tenants, our colleagues, our staff, everybody, our friends, to be of one mind, to be aware of what are the things we need to do in going green, in looking after our environment. We want to inculcate this habit, this constant need to think about what we need to do, (how) our actions… will impact on our environment.”
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 5 Oct 2011