In an effort to encourage occupants and tenants of commercial buildings to adopt better energy efficient practices, Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority (BCA) has rolled out a $50 million Green Mark Incentive Scheme targeting small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Launched yesterday during Singapore Green Building Week 2014, the scheme will co-fund up to 50 percent of the retrofitting cost for energy improvements, or up to $3 million for SME building owners and up to $20,000 for occupants and tenants. It also applies to building owners with at least 30 percent SME tenants.
This incentive falls under the third Green Building Masterplan, which looks to accelerate the “greening” of existing buildings and bring Singapore closer to achieving its target of 80 percent green buildings by 2030.
At the same time, new awards have been introduced. The Green Mark Pearl and Pearl Prestige Awards will recognise buildings that have done well in terms of owner-tenant collaboration to achieve better total building performance, such as adopting green leases and achieving certification for at least 50 percent of tenant spaces.
The inaugural awards will be handed out at next year’s BCA Awards.
John Keung, Chief Executive Officer of BCA said: “As the population in Singapore increases, more focused policies and measures are needed to foster greater awareness amongst tenants and occupants. By proactively changing their energy consumption behaviour and practices, tenants and occupants can be part of the solution rather than the problem.”
According to BCA, its first two Green Building Masterplans have successfully grown the number of green buildings here from just 17 in 2005 to more than 2,100 at present.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Singapore Editor of PropertyGuru Group, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
