SINGAPORE: In 2002, Olivio, a 36-unit condominium in Novena was completed and welcomed its new residents. But just four years later, it was sold en bloc and torn down.
To this day, it remains one of the youngest condominiums to have undergone a successful collective sale – which is when owners band together to sell their project to a developer.
Since the 1990s, a few en bloc cycles have come and gone, with the most recent lasting from 2017 to 2018, before cooling measures put the brakes on.
Analysts expected the trend to bud again this year, as developers seek to replenish their land banks, amid a property market that has defied the economic gloom of the pandemic.
Four collective sales have taken place since January, compared to four in the whole of 2020, while more projects have been taking another stab at a collective sale.
The phenomenon owes its longevity to several practical reasons, such as allowing urban renewal and, often, a handsome windfall for those selling their units.
But some believe Singapore’s love affair with en bloc sales is becoming increasingly problematic, in light of its recent pledges to sustainability.
In particular, the country has crafted a Green Building Masterplan to reduce the carbon footprint of the built environment sector, which accounts for 20 per cent of the country’s emissions.
The issue is that the process of tearing down and re-building is highly carbon-intensive, and especially wasteful when developments in good condition are demolished, said experts CNA spoke to.
“IT’S NOT THE BUILDING’S FAULT IT HAS TO DIE”
Buildings in Singapore have shorter average lifespans than in other cities, said Professor Thomas Schroepfer, who teaches architecture and sustainable design at the Singapore University of Technology and Design.
“When buildings are torn down, it’s not necessarily because one cannot live there, but often it’s economic drivers.
“It’s not the building’s fault it has to die … Particularly, because of a lack of development land, the pressure is really high to build bigger, denser, modern buildings,” he said.
Theoretically, structures can last a long time, with the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome, the Pantheon in Rome, still in “brilliant condition” after some 1,900 years, said Ms Alexis Chua, Course Chair of the School of Design & Environment at Ngee Ann Polytechnic.
Signs of wear and tear can start showing as early as within five years, but Singapore’s building guidelines also generally ensure developments can last many decades, she noted.
Dr Lee Nai Jia, Deputy Director of the Institute of Real Estate Studies at the National University of Singapore added that buildings are usually built to last for the tenure of the land.
He added: “While it makes sense to redevelop if the buildings become structurally unsafe, there were a number of developments sold en bloc that were less than 20 years old.”
Data he compiled shows that since 1995, at least 51 developments that have been sold en bloc were less than 20 years old.
He added that there are no specific laws dictating the age at which buildings can be demolished.
ENVIRONMENTAL PRICE OF CONSTRUCTION
Cycling through buildings before their time is up creates environmental problems, said Prof Schroepfer.
“You have to take care of the debris from tearing down, there’s steel, concrete, glass – all materials that have high (embodied carbon), meaning it was very energy-intensive to bring them into life in the first place.
Some of these are then recycled, but “it’s not like other industries where the recycling rate is much higher”, he said.
Producing new materials, transporting them and starting construction kicks off the cycle all over again.
“So in terms of life cycle analysis, the tearing down and rebuilding is very energy hungry, and therefore not good for environment,” he said.
For context, about 40 per cent of global carbon emissions are already from building and construction, according to the World Green Building Council. Operational emissions form 28 per cent of this, while embodied carbon emissions account for 11 per cent.
In Singapore, where the lifespan of buildings is shorter due to urban renewal, embodied carbon emissions could go up to 40 per cent, the council’s Chair, Lisa Bates, told Eco-Business.
