Surbana Jurong Group CEO Wong Heang Fine (standing – right) and JTC CEO Ng Lang (standing– left) witnessing the signing of the MOU by Surbana Jurong Deputy CEO Infrastructure Seah Kim Huah (seated– right) and JTC Assistant CEO (Engineering and Operations Group) Heah Soon Poh
11 MOUs in 1 day
Surbana Jurong made a splash signing 11 MOUs at the International Built Environment Week 2019 on 5 September at Marina Bay Sands.
Headlining the event is an MOU with JTC Corporation of Singapore, the republic’s lead industrial masterplanner and developer. Both organisations plan to combine forces to develop practical and scalable solutions for the built environment sector.
The MOU covers 3 areas of focus:
- Integrated Digital Delivery (IDD), or the use of digital technologies to integrate information and processes among the various stakeholders at various stages of development, from designers, builders to facilities managers
- Digital solutions to automate data collection and analytics to reduce the time spent by engineers for on-site manual monitoring, and empowering project managers to make more informed decisions
- Explore new alternative materials for building, infrastructure and reclamation to cut use of conventional construction materials to tackle potential shortages and build resource resilience
Both parties also agree that they will test-bed or pilot these solutions at their respective estates, buildings, or projects, and these may even be used by other collaborators, including international players.
Surbana Jurong’s Group CEO, Mr Wong Heang Fine, said Surbana Jurong is happy to collaborate with JTC on these key focus areas which form the backbone of the construction industry transformation roadmap. “As a consultancy firm operating around the world, Surbana Jurong’s unique value proposition is in our Asian heritage and our ability to stay ahead in offering the latest solutions to our clients,” he said. “This latest partnership with JTC will enable us to continue to advance in our research and innovation journey for the benefit of our clients and the industry.”
Mr Ng Lang, CEO of JTC, said JTC hopes that through this collaboration, both are able to bring together their expertise to advance the adoption and development of new technological solutions that will improve the productivity, sustainability and resilience of the sector.
From Left to Right: Novade Founder and CEO Denis Branthonne, Signify CEO Mahesh Lyer, VR Collab CEO Tee Jia Hen, Surbana Jurong DCEO Seah Kim Huah, Glodon Managing/Country Director Andy Zhang, Surbana Jurong CEO Yeo Choon Chong, Surbana Jurong Group GCEO Wong Heang Fine, Surbana Jurong Senior Director Eugene Seah, JTC CEO Ng Lang, 51VR Director of Global Sales Michael Tang, JTC ACEO Heah Soon Poh, Republic Polytechnic Deputy Principal Dr Michael Koh, Bentley Systems VP Kaushik Chakraborty and One To One Director Marian Rafael
The Surbana Jurong group is also significantly upping its game with 9 other MOUs signed with non-government partners in the areas of Building Information Modelling (BIM), cost estimation technology, robotics, compliance, smart cities and smart lighting. Partners involved are Shui On, Glodon, VR Collab, Bentley Systems, 51VR, Novade, One To One Display, Republic Polytechnic and Signify.
MOUs with overseas partners
As a leader in the development of affordable housing and townships in Singapore, Surbana Jurong will be collaborating with Shui On Joint Venture in Hong Kong to expand the use of prefabricated prefinished volumetric construction (PPVC) products and services into overseas markets, by researching and developing innovative solutions in PPVC.
An MOU was also signed for the establishment of a Programme Management Unit for the development of Orange Smart City on the outskirts of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region in India. The MOU covers the first phase of Programme Management for the Orange Smart City project for 5 years. The signing of these two MOUs was witnessed by the Second Minister for National Development, Mr Desmond Lee.
MOUs for new digital solutions
Three MOUs relate to the visualisation solutions. The MOU with VR Collab is set to enhance virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) for virtual design and construction. With 51VR, Surbana Jurong hopes to combine its applied design and data and 51VR’s VR to create virtual cities for master planning and smart cities virtualisation. With One-To-One Display, Surbana Jurong seeks to use its floor plan projection technology in the 5 Men Cave and 40 Men Cave. For the uninitiated, such a cave is a room where at least 3 walls act as giant monitors, giving an immersive environment for virtual reality projections in the upcoming Surbana Jurong Campus. With this MOU, it is hoped that full scale images and areas can be experienced, giving designers and builders a full sense of space.
Two MOUs are focused in the area of auditing. To facilitate smart auditing, Surbana Jurong will work with Novade is to address data and information management throughout the building cycle. To have better budget oversight, the MOU with Goldon is to enable 5D measurement from the BIM model to enhance Quantity Surveying productivity right from the design stage.
Plans are also afoot to research the use of Lifi technology with Signify. Lifi is a LED-light-based form of wireless data transfer at very high speeds. With Bentley, Surbana Jurong wants to explore computational programming and generative components to increase productivity.
Environmental sustainability and farming
Last but not least, the collaboration with Republic Polytechnic is to provide internships for students in Surbana Jurong, as well as to carry out applied research on sustainability, resiliency, aquaculture and agriculture.
The 11 MOUs show Surbana Jurong’s dedicated focus in working with industry partners to seek improvements and innovations.
Said Mr Wong: “What we bring to the table is our strong track record, deep and diverse competencies, and longstanding market knowledge of the urban, infrastructure and management services sectors. We thank our partners for joining us on this journey to excellence.”
