SINGAPORE : You may find lavender and tulips growing in Singapore when the first Cooled Conservatory at Marina Bay is built in about three years.

Top local talents and those from around the world have been invited to conceptualise the Conservatory and the planned gardens by the bay, which will define Singapore as the world's premier tropical Garden City.

Exotic flowers from the mountainous regions of China, Southeast Asia and as far away as South America are set to bloom in Marina Bay at what is expected to be the biggest cool house in the tropics.

Sprawled over an area of some 4,000 to 20,000 square metres, the Conservatory Complex will be one of the main attractions at the Garden at Marina South, which will sit on 54 hectares of land.

In terms of size, the Garden at Marina South will be slightly bigger than the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

Together with the other two gardens, they will take up about 94 hectares of prime land at Marina Bay.

When ready in a few years' time, they will bring Singapore closer to its vision of becoming a city in a garden.

The Garden at Marina East, which comprises water-themed gardens, will be a staging area for water-sports, while the Garden at Marina Centre will be an urban connector, offering beachfront recreation.

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan, who launched the international design competition, says the project will add a further dimension to Singapore's landscape and lifestyle.

Said Mr Mah, "If you imagine a city where every last plot of land is a high rise, is built up into either residential or business, I think it is not going to be a very pleasant city."

He said, "We have good infrastructure. You know that we've got a very business friendly environment; we have a favourable tax regime. But at the end of the day, the decision to locate and where to do business is also dependent on individual, how people live, how their family lives, how do they feel here. Do they feel safe here; do they have a good quality of life here? This is where the garden and greenery play a part. They are part and parcel of the whole total lifestyle package."

Industry players have given the project the thumbs up, saying it will raise the country's competitive edge in more ways than one.

Henry Steed, member of the jury panel for the Gardens by the Bay International Design Competition, "It's very rare for a city to give up that length of the waterfront to develop and turn into some kind of property. I don't know any other city that has gone quite that far. The other city that I know is Shanghai. A famous example is Sydney Harbour; Sydney may be one of the best. In fact, Singapore is heading in the direction of that with the IR and the Flyer and all that, so it's very advanced in terms of planning."

Otto Fung, president of the Institute of Landscape Architects, said, "This project gives us a good opportunity, especially for landscape architects, to show what we can do in contributing to the Garden City. It's an opportunity not to be missed because I think this is the biggest ever landscape project to be done in Singapore."

The competition to design the gardens will be conducted in two stages.

Submissions are now open for expressions of interest for the first stage, which is the masterplan for the Gardens by the Bay.

Shortlisted individuals or firms will be paid an honorarium of S$120,000 to cover costs.

The winning entry will be awarded the prize money of S$600,000, inclusive of honorarium.

Teams from the NParks will be going overseas to conduct roadshows and attract interests for the competition.

The closing date for the expressions of interest is February 28.

More information about the design competition can be found at the website, www.gardensbythebay.org.sg. - CNA /ct