Lend Lease leading Singapore’s retail sustainability

CASE STUDY: 17 May 2010 – Two of Singapore’s major shopping centres managed and co-owned by Lend Lease group have this year become the first mixed use developments to be awarded the Singapore Building and Construction Authority’s Green Mark Platinum Award – existing building category.  Following is a case study of one of these centres, Parkway Parade.

Parkway Parade

Completed in 1983, Parkway Parade is one of Singapore’s oldest and biggest suburban malls located eight kilometres to the east of Singapore’s CBD. It comprises six levels of retail outlets, one level of medical centre, a 17 storey office tower atop the retail podium and a car park with 1184 parking bays.

Since 2004, Lend Lease has implemented a number of key sustainability features, including:

• A double glazed façade and roof which allows natural sunlight to enter the podium atrium, minimising the demand for artificial lighting and reducing the amount of solar heat entering the building
• Photo sensors that automatically operate the lamps during the night. Motion sensors have been installed at all staircases landings and office toilets, resulting in energy savings of 12,000 kilowatt-hours and 8455 kilowatt-hour a year respectively
• Carbon monoxide sensors in the naturally ventilated car-park that send signals to activate the mechanical ventilation system when the carbon monoxide exceeds the preset level. This helps to maintain good air quality and reduces the operating hours of the mechanical ventilation system, resulting in an average savings per year of 573,000 kilowatt-hours
• Sorting of organic and non-organic waste in the waste disposal system, with organic waste sent to undergo anaerobic digestion at IUT Global Pty Ltd to produce electricity. There is also a designated compactor for all cardboards as well as a collection point for plastics
• An industrial electrostatic air filter system capable of trapping particles of up to 0.1 microns, a measurement below the size of particles that can be breathed deep into the lungs
• The replacement of existing conventional urinals with waterless urinals, reducing water usage by 7900 cubic metres a year
• A rainwater harvesting system that collects rainwater from the roof which is then reused to wash and flush toilets, helping to save an estimated 867 cubic metres per year.
• Carpark lots that support electric scooters for re-charging
• More energy savings features are set to be put in place. A more efficient chiller plant system will replace existing ones which translates to an estimated energy saving of 2,101,804 kilowatt-hours a year. Lighting in the carpark will be replaced with energy efficient T5 lamps. Existing inefficient metal halide and halogen lamps within the mall will be replaced with LEDs. These changes will result in estimated energy savings of 260,016 kilowatt-hours per year and a $33,280 reduction in utilities costs
• Electrical meters will also be installed on major equipment and link to the building automation system. Additional water sub-meters and leak detection will also be installed for monitoring water usage.

PoMo

Constructed in 1986 as the Paradiz Centre, the PoMo is a nine storey mixed-used development comprising four levels of retail area, six levels of office and a car park with 141 parking bays. Beginning in 2007, the sustainability initiatives introduced by Lend Lease are expected to reap an estimated S$270,000 in savings a year at a cost of only S$2.5million to implement.

One of the major improvements to the centre was its chilled water system, which prior to an energy audit conducted in 2009 performed at an efficiency level of 1.1 to 1.7 kilowatts per refrigeration tonne during the peak operating hours. Since Lend Lease’s improvements the system now has a peak hour efficiency of 0.65 kilowatts per refrigeration tonne, a 50 per cent improvement which equates to a saving of 1.27 million kilowatt-hour per annum.

This improved efficiency was achieved through:

• The aged chillers were replaced following testing by an energy modelling software system
• Improvements to the pumping system
• Chilled water and condenser water pumps were resized and improved
• To further gain energy efficiency during the actual performance, the condenser water pumps and cooling towers were also fitted with variable speed drives which capture the energy savings during part load conditions

Other sustainable features of the centre include:

• Building management system monitors installed to control the chiller system and other building services. The system has trending and logging capabilities which allows the facility manager to analyse and implement further energy saving strategies easily
• The use of light sensors in the mall atriums, toilets and staircases that allow lights to be turned off during bright days
• A replacement of 380 T8 light fittings with T5 which come with high frequency electronic ballasts to improve indoor environment quality
• The installation of a UV light filter that prevents the formation of mould and fungi, removes odour and volatile organic compounds and kills bacteria/germs by up to 90 per cent
• The segregation of organic and non-organic waste in designated waste bins by all tenants. The organic waste is then sent to undergo anaerobic digestion for electricity production
• Carbon monoxide sensors installed in the car parks that monitor CO levels and control the exhaust fans
• Carbon dioxide sensors that monitor CO2 levels and modulate the fresh air intake
• Use of water cooling towers that results in a 50 per cent reduction of potable water usage
• Future plans to replace all water fittings with new fittings that have obtained an “excellent” water efficiency as well as replacing all urinals with waterless urinals.

313@Somerset

Having previously received the Platinum Green Mark Award by The Building and Construction Authority of Singapore in 2008, 313@Somerset reopened in December 2009 after undergoing its latest redevelopment.

During this redevelopment, Lend Lease implemented sustainability measures that have made the centre the first in Singapore to:

• introduce green leases, which stipulates a control on energy usage (based on watts per square metre) and expected to further reduce operational expenditure for the centre as well as reduce the investment’s risk exposure to volatile energy prices
• calculate and assess both its operational and embedded carbon footprint performance. This is done through a retail calculator that enables customisation of the shops interiors and displays how different choices translate into reduced electricity usage. The calculator translates the information directly into a figure of the tenant’s energy savings and into environmental figures of the reduction in the businesses carbon footprint
• integrate a cogeneration system that sends waste cooking oil from the food outlets can for processing, which is then returned as bio diesel to produce power and hot water for the centre

From these measures, the centre has reaped considerable energy, water and financial savings, including:

• a reduction in energy reduction in energy consumption by six million kilowatt-hours a year, a 30 per cent reduction as compared to a Singapore code compliant buildingwater savings estimated at 22,000 cubic metres a year, a 26 per cent saving in water consumption a year as compared to a Singapore code compliant buildingan ongoing net operating income improvement of approximately S$930,000 a year, at a yield of 12 per cent. This means the initiatives will pay for themselves in 8.3 years (based on $7.75 million upfront investment).