http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/arch...cellence-award

Published April 26, 2012

More residential developments receive Construction Excellence Award

Woh Hup clinches highest number of awards for 2nd year

By Mindy Tan


MORE residential developments are slated to receive the Construction Excellence Award this year, with local builder Woh Hup clinching the highest number of Construction Excellence Awards for the second consecutive year.

The company will receive awards for The Cascadia, Marina Bay Residences, and The Seafront on Meyer.

The Cascadia, which received a Conquas score of 95.6 (based on the Construction Quality Assessment System), featured alternative design of basement columns and wall, which resulted in easier transfer and increase in the number of car park lots in the development. In addition, pilecaps were rotated or combined to optimise the building's foundation.

Residential projects received 10 awards and seven certificates of merit this year, compared to five awards and five certificates of merit given out in 2011. A total of 17 awards and 11 certificates of merit will be given out this year.

"The increase is largely attributed to more high quality condominiums, fuelled by improvements to construction quality and workmanship standards as well as higher expectations for building quality," said Lai Huen Poh, chairman of the Construction Excellence Award Assessment Committee.

The average Conquas score for buildings in general has risen to 85.7 compared to 76.5 a decade ago. There are over 47,000 private residential units committed or assessed under the BCA Quality Mark (QM) scheme to date.

"This year, condominiums like The Arte, The Orchard Residences, The Cascadia, Wilkie Studio and Marina Bay Residences emerged top performers in the residential building category for construction excellence, with Conquas scores above 94. Besides achieving high quality, these projects also meet other criteria such as safety, sustainability, buildability, and innovativeness," Mr Lai added.

Other notable projects include Shuqun Secondary School (Conquas score of 93.0), which had the highest score under the institutional building category to date. Ion Orchard (Conquas score of 89.7) and Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (Conquas score of 91.0) topped the commercial/mixed development and institutional building categories respectively.

BCA has conferred 187 awards and 180 certificates of merit since the Construction Excellence Award was introduced in 1986. Winners will receive their awards at the BCA Awards on May 24.