http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/...30340,00.html?

Published May 12, 2011

BCA to raise bar for awards

This year's projects show big improvement in quality

By MINDY TAN


(SINGAPORE) A total of 17 awards and 11 certificates of merit will be given out at this year's Building and Construction Authority (BCA) Construction Excellence Awards.

BCA noted that this year's award is marked by a significant improvement in the quality of nominated projects. In particular, all private residential projects which qualified were BCA Quality-Mark certified and scored above 90 Conquas (Construction Quality Assessment System) points.

Local builder Woh Hup won the most number of awards for three of its projects - City Square Residences, Jurong Point 2, and Orchard Central.

The former two are among the top three Conquas score ranking projects in Singapore at 95.6 and 94.5 respectively.

Four other projects, Punggol West C5, Duke NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore, Credit Suisse Pacific Region Data Centre and 7 & 9 Tampines Grande also ranked among the top three Conquas scores in their respective building categories.

In line with the improvement in construction quality, 17 awards and 11 certificates will be awarded this year, as compared to the 12 awards and nine certificates in 2010. BCA expects to raise the bar for the awards from next year.

'The standard of the award winning projects is getting higher, which is evident from the number of projects that have topped the industry's Conquas ranking. In fact, this year, we are giving away a total of 17 awards, the highest ever since the Construction Excellence Awards was introduced in 1986,' said Song Wee Ngee, BCA board member, and managing director of KTP Consultants.

The assessment of each nomination is based on the builder's overall management of the project, taking into account Conquas scores, safety, environmental consciousness, innovation, and productivity.

The awards ceremony will be held on May 19.