PREMAS International and the Centre for Total Building Performance (CTBP), School of Design and Environment, National University of Singapore, are pleased to announce the signing of a Research MOU covering a joint research programme between the two institutions on the 17 August 2001.

This is a first Research MOU entered into by the CTBP with a local company. PREMAS International is taking a leadership position in venturing into research and development.

Background: Changing Dimension of Property Services

The property services industry in Singapore, like many other industries, is facing the challenge of the new economy - a knowledge based economy. At the same time, as Singapore places more emphasis on human capital, it is recognised that the built environment must play a larger contributory role in meeting the new functional needs of a technological era. In the new economy, building is not just about providing a roof over our heads. It is part of a complex interactive environment providing the various stimuli for healthy, comfortable, productive and creative spaces for work, play and rest. This includes key stimuli such as visual, thermal, aural, spatial and air quality performance and building integrity. In short, the total performance of a building taking into consideration human and his/her social needs.

To meet the total building performance needs of a building holistically, a professional team with precise understanding of building and human performance is required. Technological supports in the simulation of performance, measurement and performance evaluation and benchmarking, and diagnostics and development of solutions are required.

In addition, these arrays of technical services must be coupled with economics. Decision support tools using latest technology such as facility management and total life-cycle-cost packages for strategic asset management are keys to guided objective decision making processes.

Property services professionals are therefore required to do more than mere maintenance, maintenance management and attend to complaints. A property services professional today must know the latest in technological developments and how they impact on work practices and environment, and how the physical built environment can cope with such changing needs.

With the firm understanding of these changing needs, PREMAS is investing into the future through R&D, and work with the CTBP to enhance the rate of technology uptake.

The CTBP is a joint research centre established by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) and the School of Design and Environment (SDE), National University of Singapore (NUS) in November 2000 to meet the R&D needs of the Construction Industry in the area of Building Performance. The Centre is hosted by the Department of Building of the SDE.

The Centre's mission is to "Advance Building Performance Research in Singapore and the Tropics by establishing a Knowledge Base for fostering Healthy, Productive and Sustainable Built Environment.

The Centre has five major research programmes. They are: 1. Green Building and Energy Efficiency Research Programme 2. Indoor Environmental Quality Research Programme 3. Building Performance Integration and Innovation Research Programme 4. Building Maintainability Research Programme 5. IT Decision Support Systems Research Programme

PREMAS International is a leading total asset management company in Singapore and the region. Its technical services operation spans the South East Asia and East Asia. PREMAS International is a wholly owned subsidiary of CapitaLand Limited. CapitaLand is South East Asia's largest property group in terms of assets holding. It is also ranked among the top 10 property groups in Asia.

The MOU and Research Programme

The CEO of PREMAS International, Mr. Anthony Seah, has said that with the signing of the MOU, PREMAS is set to develop a technology edge in the present competitive market. "We are well poised to develop a Total Building Performance Team which aims to enhance properties and buildings through building audits, energy efficiency programme and other building environment enhancing deliverables. The synergy between the CTBP and PREMAS is therefore very strong", said Mr. Seah.

Under the MOU, the three key areas of collaboration are: a) exchange of technical information, materials and research personnel; b) collaboration, co-operation and joint research, with particular reference to energy efficiency studies and building performance studies; and c) commercialization of the results of the said collaboration and co-operation.

The CTBP is particularly excited about the potential exchange of research personnel where industry researchers can come and work with the Centre's researchers in realizing common research goals.

"By bringing in leading industry members such as PREMAS to work with university's researchers, the Centre has fulfilled its role of creating a bridge for the two ways flow of knowledge. It will result in creative research resources being harnessed into purposeful directions. The research outcomes will be even more outstanding, realizing the vision of NUS's Knowledge Enterprise", said Assoc. Prof. Lee Siew Eang, the Director of the Centre.

Presently, research projects in the areas of energy and building performance classifications and life-cycle cost studies are being prepared for joint funding.

PREMAS International and the CTBP are looking forward to this close research partnership. We are confident that this partnership will be fruitful.

Finally, we hope that the research findings will also be useful to the industry as a whole, and help upgrade the level of professionalism among all players in the industry.