TO help local companies better adopt design to grow their businesses, a Design Promotion Unit will be set up within the government to provide one-stop assistance, as well as a Business Centre within the National Design Centre (NDC), for companies to tap a common pool of business services.

Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Communications & Information, made the announcement on March 10, at the launch of Design 2025 and the opening of Singapore Design Week 2016 at NDC.

Design 2025 is a masterplan that will take design in Singapore to the next level of development.

The setting up of the Design Promotion Unit and the Business Centre are two of the 15 recommendations put forth by the Design Masterplan Committee (DMC) under Design 2025.

In 2015, Dr Yaacob convened the DMC to study how the ministry could take the next leap towards the goal of being a global city of design.

Earlier blueprints were government-led, and identified art, design and media as new growth areas.

This new masterplan was developed by a committee comprising leaders from different communities in the design industry.

DMC is headed by Beh Swan Gin, chairman of Economic Development Board (EDB), and includes industry players such as fashion designer Priscilla Shunmugam, creative director Chris Lee and Wee Teng Wen, co-founder of The Lo and Behold Group.

The DesignSingapore Council (Dsg) – set up to help develop the nation’s design sector – noted that currently, 86 per cent of design firms are micro small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which lack the resources to internationalise.

There is also a need for a more coordinated approach in government support, and most businesses and government agencies still do not fully appreciate the value of using design.

The Design Promotion Unit aims to bring together the efforts and resources of relevant economic agencies, including Spring Singapore, EDB and DSg.

This will enable the government to provide a more comprehensive range of assistance to businesses from SMEs to Singapore-based multinational corporations (MNCs) that intend to scale up their use of design for growth.

The Business Centre will help firms expand locally and overseas by providing shared services such as public relations, human resources, intellectual property management and accounting.

The 15 recommendations are categorised into five strategic trusts, the first of which is to infuse design into the national skillset.

This means nurturing design sensibilities starting from as young as pre-school so that the next generation workforce will have the mindset and skillset necessary for the future economy.

The second thrust is to expand the role of design in businesses and government.

This will serve to strengthen the design capabilities of businesses and government, so that they can better respond to the rapidly changing operating environment, both locally and globally.

The third thrust is to strengthen the competitiveness of design firms, so that local design firms can grow and expand internationally.

To do this, there are recommendations to address the inadequate opportunities for scalability, as well as by encouraging experimentation to stay ahead of the curve.

The fourth thrust is to bring design into the community. This will help the community better appreciate good design, the process of people-centred design, and how design can be useful for improving our everyday life and in shaping our national identity.

The fifth thrust is to develop the Singapore Design brand. The objective is to expand the global mindshare of Singapore as a design thought leader and to rally the local design community to achieve great international influence and impact.

Dr Yaacob said that some of the recommendations put forth in Design 2025 build on the progress that the design sector has made and “which we will move decisively on, in line with our national priorities”, adding: “Others have a longer horizon, and we will need to further study and consult our stakeholders in implementing them.”

When successfully implemented by 2025, Singapore will be known as an economy with companies and a workforce that create value through innovation. Residents will have more opportunities to participate in the development of the landscape in which they live, learn, work and play.

Recommendations for Design 2025

The Design Masterplan Committee has released 15 recommendations in its Design 2025 Master Plan. Here are some of them:

1. Cultivate creativity and design sensibilities from pre-school to secondary levels by developing and launching an integrated curriculum of enrichment programmes.

2. Develop a pipeline of multi-disciplinary, industry-ready designers and recognise promising Singaporean talents in the Institutes of Technical Education, polytechnics and universities.

3. Increase the knowledge and practice of design thinking in public servants for better policy-making and delivery of public services.

4. Form physical and digital clustering of related design practitioners, craftsmen, suppliers and support service providers to foster collaboration and generate synergies.

5. Enable citizens to co-create better daily living experiences through design and equip them with the knowhow.

6. Build SG-Mark into a regional standard for well-designed products and services.

taysc@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on March 11, 2016.
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The world may have signed a pact to tackle climate change last December, but its effects are still being felt far and wide.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates that buildings contribute to as much as a third of total global greenhouse gas emissions, mainly due to the use of fossil fuels for energy generation.

In Singapore, the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) says buildings, which refer to offices, shopping malls, hotels, and educational and healthcare institutes, consume more than a third of the nation’s electricity.

“Buildings thus present a huge opportunity for tackling climate change, especially by improving energy efficiency in design and reducing energy consumption when operating buildings,” said a BCA spokesman.

The UNEP says current technology can cut energy consumption in buildings by up to 80 per cent.

Research and development may reduce this further, and BCA has a suite of initiatives to promote R&D, including the BCA SkyLab, a rotatable laboratory for testing and developing energy-efficient technology.

Experts such as Dr Herbert Dreiseitl, director of the Germany-based Liveable Cities Lab, have also suggested that to protect the country against the effects of climate change – such as heavier rain and prolonged dry spells – more green features can be incorporated in buildings from an earlier stage of the design process.

For instance, water retention tanks could be installed to store rainwater.

This would reduce the rainwater flowing into the public drainage system, lessening the chances of flash floods. Stored water can also be used to water plants in the building during a dry spell.

But as new buildings make up only a small part of the building stock, green strategies that can be applied to existing buildings must also be considered, said Professor Thomas Schroepfer, associate head of the architecture and sustainable design school at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD).

This could involve re-using existing structures, said Prof Schroepfer, who authored Dense + Green: Innovative Building Types For Sustainable Urban Architecture, a book launched by SUTD’s Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities last month.

“A good local example would be the Rail Corridor and the proposed adaptive reuse of the existing building, the former Tanjong Pagar Railway Station.”

The winners of a design competition for the future of the former KTM railway land had repurposed the station as a multi- function community building, which is also expected to include facilities such as a railway gallery, art clubs and cafes. The station’s carpark could also become a public park.

As of January, almost 2,600 buildings in Singapore and more than 76 million sq m of gross floor area are certified green by the BCA.

This is more than 30 per cent of the Republic’s total gross floor area. The Government’s goal is to green at least 80 per cent of total gross floor area of buildings here by 2030.

BCA believes Singapore is on track to achieving this through initiatives such as cash incentives to get building owners that retrofit their premises to make them more energy-efficient.

“BCA’s three Green Building Masterplans in the last decade had initiatives targeted at new buildings, existing buildings and end-users…to pave the way for us to hit the target,” said a spokesman.

“The next step is to innovate and further stretch the energy savings of green building technologies, which is the key focus of the various R&D efforts over the next few years.”

audreyt@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on March 11, 2016.
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SINGAPORE – Former MP Dr Tan Cheng Bock has announced that he will be contesting in the upcoming Presidential Election.

“I intend and will contest in the next presidential elections”, he told reporters at a press conference on Friday (Mar 11) at the MHC Asia Healthcare building in Commonwealth.

He is the first person to state an intention to contest in the upcoming election, which must be held by August next year.

Dr Tan, who was a People’s Action Party MP for Ayer Rajah from 1980 to 2006, was also a candidate in the previous Presidential Election in 2011.

In a four-way race, he narrowly lost out by 7,382 votes, or 0.35 percentage points, to President Tony Tan Keng Yam. The other candidates that year was current Singaporeans First Secretary-General Tan Jee Say and former NTUC Income chief executive officer Tan Kin Lian.

At the press conference, Dr Tan also outlined his achievements and contributions while in Parliament, such as the introduction of free parking on Sundays to promote family bonding.

At the opening session of the 13th Parliament last month, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong reiterated that the president will remain an elected office.

He also announced the formation of a Constitutional Commission, chaired by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, to review the Elected Presidency system.

A look at the presidents of Singapore

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The Straits Times, Zawiyah Salleh, New Nation, Wee Kim Wee, The Business Times, The New Paper, The Ong family, Lianhe Zaobao

Dr Tan Cheng Bock intends and will contest in the next presidential elections #singapore #elections

— AsiaOne (@sphasiaone) March 11, 2016

Did you know Dr Tan Cheng Bock championed free parking on Sundays to promote family bonding? #funfacts

— AsiaOne (@sphasiaone) March 11, 2016

seanyap@sph.com.sg

Pre-schoolers might soon get an early start in learning about good design, if recommendations by the Design Masterplan Committee (DMC) are adopted.

They could be spending more hands-on time with craftwork, exploring their environment with all their senses and using their imagination to fire up their creativity.

Plans for primary and secondary schoolchildren include design courses, an annual National Design Challenge and an exhibition that showcases how they use design to tackle real-life challenges.

Committee chairman Beh Swan Gin said it was crucial to get young children involved early as they would become part of a design-centric workforce for the future.

“Design is a powerful capability that can enable Singapore as a country and society to deal with future challenges,” said Dr Beh, who is also chairman of the Singapore Economic Development Board.

He said the committee hopes that children can be taught the skills during enrichment lessons or that publishers can incorporate design thinking into their materials.

“We’re not training them to be designers – that is the role of schools and will take place at tertiary levels,” he said. “We’re just talking about the appreciation of design and use of basic design tools.”

The committee made 15 recommendations in its report, Design 2025, which was released yesterday.

The 16 committee members included civil servants, an academic and business owners such as fashion designer Priscilla Shunmugam and Mr Tim Kobe, chief executive of Eight Inc, a multi-discipline experience design studio.

Some recommendations are expected to be implemented in phases, but there is no specific timeline.

The ideas include training civil servants to use design to help the public digest policies more easily. Design can also be spread to the heartland through talks and exhibitions at malls and libraries.

At the opening of this year’s Singapore Design Week and the launch of the Design 2025 Masterplan last night, Communications and Information Minister Yaacob Ibrahim supported the recommendation for a Design Promotion Unit.

This will be set up by the Government to provide “one-stop assistance for businesses that wish to scale up their use of design to achieve growth”.

The masterplan comes at a time when the design industry here has come under the spotlight. The sector accounted for $2.13 billion of the country’s gross domestic product in 2013.

Singapore was named as a Unesco Creative City of Design last December. It is one of only two South-east Asian cities that bear the title. The other is Bandung, Indonesia.

Parents such as Ms Adlena Wong, 33, who has a two-year-old daughter, welcomed the idea of introducing design early, but she is curious about how the committee will track whether the children have gained from the programmes.

The corporate communications manager said: “There are already so many things that our children have to do in school. Even if we put in place a design curriculum, what will the outcome be?”

natashaz@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on March 11, 2016.
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Fewer workers were injured last year but more died while on duty.

Last year, 66 workers were killed at their workplaces, up from 60 in 2014, according to an annual report released by the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Institute yesterday.

This works out to about 1.9 deaths per 100,000 employed workers last year, up slightly from 1.8 per 100,000 workers in 2014.

Construction accounted for the most fatalities last year, with 27 deaths. Transportation had 15 deaths, and manufacturing had six.

A total of 23 workers fell to their deaths. Traffic accidents took 10 lives, while 10 workers were killed by moving objects.

“These fatalities could have easily been prevented if we just paid a little bit more attention to workplace safety and health,” said Minister of State for Manpower Sam Tan at a workplace safety conference yesterday.

But even as the number of deaths rose, fewer workers were hurt at work. Last year, 12,285 workers suffered major or minor injuries at work, down from 13,535 in 2014.

There were 597 major injuries, such as fractures and burns, reported last year, down from 672 in 2014. About one-quarter of the major injury cases were in the construction sector.

Cases of minor injuries, such as cuts and sprains, fell to 11,688, from 12,863 in 2014.

Dr Gan Siok Lin, executive director of the WSH Institute, urged employers to pay more attention to the risks that their workers face.

“Recognition of risks is critical as it is the trigger for further action to control risk,” she said.

Mr Tan said he was worried about the recent spike in workplace deaths. Nine workers were killed in separate accidents in January.

“All these precious lives could have been saved,” he said, adding: “We need to redouble our efforts to prevent accidents.”

After the spike in deaths in January, a four-week blitz by the Manpower Ministry at 500 worksites found close to 700 safety lapses.

Seven worksites were ordered to stop work until the safety issues were fixed.

To further reduce the number of deaths and injuries at worksites, the WSH Council has printed and distributed a pocket-size checklist for worksite supervisors to remind their workers of safety tips.

Also in the pipeline are safety clinics to be held at worksites and a new programme to help companies implement traffic safety.

These measures will be rolled out in the second half of this year, said Mr Tan.

Industry players welcomed the new programmes.

Mr Yeo Kim Hock, divisional safety manager at Gammon, said contractors will benefit from the programmes’ accessibility.

“The new programmes will make safety education more convenient and accessible, so there will be wider outreach.”

Others said the programmes will improve the relationship between the authorities and contractors.

“Instead of seeing the authorities as enforcers, we see them as educators,” said Mr Allan Low, the environment, health and safety manager at Teambuild Engineering & Construction.

“Things will improve,” he added.

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This article was first published on March 11, 2016.
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