Sim Ann on Building Control (Amendment) Bill
As of July this year, Singapore has “greened” close to 60 per cent of its buildings by gross floor area (GFA). To tackle the emissions arising from this group of existing energy-intensive buildings, the Building Control (Amendment) Bill introduces the Mandatory Energy Improvement (MEI) regime, which is to be implemented in the third quarter of 2025. It requires owners of energy-intensive buildings to engage a professional to carry out an energy audit of the building’s energy-consuming systems. After that, building owners have to implement improvement measures to reduce the building’s energy consumption and maintain the improved building energy performance over a period of time. Senior Minister of State for National Development Sim Ann, who highlighted the key changes in Parliament on Tuesday (Sep 10), said the Bill is necessary to further Singapore’s efforts in tackling climate change and enhancing the safety of its built environment. One requirement is for owners of buildings that may be subject to the MEI regime to submit information on their building’s energy use. This information is necessary for the Commissioner of Building Control to assess if a building is energy-intensive and should be subject to the MEI regime. For a start, the MEI regime will apply to commercial buildings, healthcare institutions, institutional buildings, as well as sports and recreation buildings that have a GFA of 5,000 square metres and above. “The MEI regime is an important and necessary addition to our suite of strategies to accelerate the decarbonisation of our built environment. It signals our commitment to bring all buildings, including the most energy-intensive ones, onto this journey of sustainable development. It also recognises that no effort is too small to make a difference,” said Ms Sim. She said the Government recognises that upfront costs may be a concern to owners whose buildings are subject to the MEI regime and urged them to think of these energy efficiency improvement measures as long-term investments that will pay for themselves in the years to come. This is achieved through the energy cost savings, as well as downstream maintenance and manpower savings, she said. This means that building owners should be able to offset the upfront costs of the retrofit through downstream cost savings within an average of six years. After this six-year period, owners will still continue to reap further savings over the rest of the building’s lifetime, she added.
As of July this year, Singapore has “greened” close to 60 per cent of its buildings by gross floor area (GFA). To tackle the emissions arising from this group of existing energy-intensive buildings, the Building Control (Amendment) Bill introduces the Mandatory Energy Improvement (MEI) regime, which is to be implemented in the third quarter of 2025. It requires owners of energy-intensive buildings to engage a professional to carry out an energy audit of the building’s energy-consuming systems. After that, building owners have to implement improvement measures to reduce the building’s energy consumption and maintain the improved building energy performance over a period of time. Senior Minister of State for National Development Sim Ann, who highlighted the key changes in Parliament on Tuesday (Sep 10), said the Bill is necessary to further Singapore’s efforts in tackling climate change and enhancing the safety of its built environment. One requirement is for owners of buildings that may be subject to the MEI regime to submit information on their building’s energy use. This information is necessary for the Commissioner of Building Control to assess if a building is energy-intensive and should be subject to the MEI regime. For a start, the MEI regime will apply to commercial buildings, healthcare institutions, institutional buildings, as well as sports and recreation buildings that have a GFA of 5,000 square metres and above. “The MEI regime is an important and necessary addition to our suite of strategies to accelerate the decarbonisation of our built environment. It signals our commitment to bring all buildings, including the most energy-intensive ones, onto this journey of sustainable development. It also recognises that no effort is too small to make a difference,” said Ms Sim. She said the Government recognises that upfront costs may be a concern to owners whose buildings are subject to the MEI regime and urged them to think of these energy efficiency improvement measures as long-term investments that will pay for themselves in the years to come. This is achieved through the energy cost savings, as well as downstream maintenance and manpower savings, she said. This means that building owners should be able to offset the upfront costs of the retrofit through downstream cost savings within an average of six years. After this six-year period, owners will still continue to reap further savings over the rest of the building’s lifetime, she added.
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