PRESIDENT’S REPORT GLEN DOWSE HIA President – ACT/Southern NSW IMPACTFUL PLANNING Could the positive planning techniques used in Singapore be implemented in Australia? What a success Singapore extraordinary level of holistic planning. so everything will grow but the impact is was for both National Policy Density is both an opportunity and a extraordinary. It brings colour and life to Congress (NPC) and the HIA challenge. It is their answer to urban sprawl, what could be very ordinary wind tunnels. National Conference. It was enabling the community to set aside large Singapore has a one hundred per cent a fantastic location and without a doubt areas of the island for agriculture while site planting policy. So whatever you take everyone involved had a great time. retaining key areas of heritage value and out you have to replace somewhere in Congratulations to the winners at the enabling high-quality open space for the the development – which brings us to sky national awards and everyone that was residents to breathe. It is a unique system, gardens and green facades. We had the involved in putting it all together – the with extremely tight planning control over opportunity to look at a few developments logistics must have been immense. the city that is driven by the government, with gardens at all levels up to the roof – I particularly got a lot of value out of the which builds eighty per cent of the housing none better than the Marina Bay Sands Hotel speakers at the business sessions and then developments. It then sells them at a where we were staying. The city makes it the follow-up housing tours. controlled price and owners have to retain work and even on the more modest buildings Singapore is an extraordinary city. We them for five years before they can be turned these rooftops and intermediate service levels have all been told for a long time how over, often at around double the price. are successfully used for breakout spaces clean it is but it wasn’t until this trip that This enables the government to plan and even running tracks. At ground level, we were given a much closer insight into for and build extraordinarily efficient there are spaces for kids to play within view how it works. High-density vertical living infrastructure and the dense population and of their parents at the upper level and plenty is something that our major cities are tax strategy enables them to fund it. Grand of service retail opportunities. transitioning to, and even in our region projects like fresh water security are on a Another eye opener was the community higher density is becoming more common. massive scale. All of the freshwater streams hub we were taken to, which sat in the But it seems we tend to struggle with how where they meet the coast are effectively middle of a new high-density town. Over to manage it from planning, compliance dammed from headland to headland about seven levels it contained a football field and quality perspectives. Our regeneration creating vast reservoirs holding out the with grandstand seating, a library, multiple suburbs have become battle zones between ocean. Unfortunately, this element cannot levels of pools and water play areas, gyms established residents and those wanting to have been positive for the local ecosystems. for basketball and other sports, a food court move in. In many cases, our infrastructure is Driving or walking around the streets and other facilities. Waste was harvested bursting under the extra load, yet Singapore you get an appreciation for the effort that and recycled in many cases for fertiliser. This manages to just get on with it with an has been put into landscaping. It is tropical building had a community vegetable garden on the roof for food and education. All of this packed into a city block. In a city of nearly 6 million people, it didn’t feel cramped, crowded or congested, which was not what I would have expected. There are many lessons here that can be learned and if only a small number of ideas could be translated into Australia, then it would be a success. Design quality and integrity are achievable, and creative greening and high-quality infill spaces should be more prevalent. Though I am sure that the monopoly of the government controlling the construction and sale of residential buildings is one element we can do without. P4 BUILDING NEWS ISSUE 3/2018 TNEDISERP