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Singapore-based asset management and real estate company Keppel is shifting its focus to other brownfield redevelopment projects after the completion of its flagship Keppel South Central, according to Samuel Ng, the president of Keppel’s real estate division in Singapore. “The redevelopment of Keppel South Central is a prime example of our capabilities,” Ng states.
Keppel South Central, previously known as Keppel Towers and GE Tower, was a 27-storey and 13-storey office building respectively, built in 1991 and 1993. The 33-storey commercial tower located along Hoe Chiang Road in Tanjong Pagar will offer 650,000 sq ft of office, retail, and event space. The typical office floor plate ranges from 20,000 to 22,000 sq ft with a clear ceiling height of 3.2m.
Nearly half of the commercial tower’s office space and retail units are either leased or in active negotiations. The first anchor tenant, a leading financial services group, will occupy two whole floors, with office occupants expected to move in from June. The ground floor of the tower will feature retail and event spaces, while the fifth and sixth floors will house health and wellness amenities. An 18th-floor landscaped terrace and basement 1 end-of-trip facilities have also been added.
The renovated property now boasts technology upgrades such as facial recognition access, 5G Wi-Fi, and an indoor air-quality management system. The office space has been designed to meet the needs of modern tenants, with designated floors equipped with micro ACUs (air conditioning units) for localized cooling. Retail and event spaces on the ground floor will be managed by a team within Keppel.
Keppel South Central has been awarded the BCA Green Mark Platinum Super Low Energy building certification, a significant improvement in energy efficiency and cost savings compared to its previous state. Keppel estimates energy savings of 6.2 million kWh annually, equivalent to the power consumption of 1,300 homes in Singapore. This translates to around $1.8 million in savings each year.
In order to achieve this, Keppel implemented various green solutions that were previously tested in another older property, Keppel Bay Tower. In 2018, Keppel Land received a BCA grant to test five new technologies in the building, which resulted in it becoming Singapore’s first zero-energy commercial building in 2020. “This experience has equipped Keppel with the knowledge to effectively apply these technologies to our properties around the world,” says Ng.
Keppel is now looking to replicate the success of Keppel South Central across the region as part of its Sustainable Urban Renewal (SUR) strategy. “In the Asia Pacific region alone, there is a huge pool of office buildings that were completed in the 1990s or earlier and will fail to meet the new standards for Grade-A office space,” explains Ng. This presents a significant opportunity for sustainability-focused retrofits.
According to a March 2024 report by JLL, 87% of occupiers surveyed across Asia Pacific aim to comprise their portfolio with entirely green-certified properties by 2030. “However, for every 5 sq ft of demand across Apac, only 2 sq ft of low-carbon space is projected for development from now until 2028,” Ng says. “This means that there is limited new office supply expected, providing a significant opportunity for sustainability-focused retrofits.”
In Singapore, aging office buildings typically undergo redevelopment in order to recycle prime commercial land in the CBD. This is why the completion of projects like Keppel South Central is essential in providing fresh office supply in the core CBD area, according to Leonard Tay, head of research at Knight Frank Singapore.
To fund the redevelopment of brownfield projects across the region, Keppel recently announced the first close of its flagship Keppel Sustainable Urban Renewal Fund (KSURF). The fund will target properties across various segments, including commercial, living, life sciences, hospitality, and logistics in Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and first-tier cities in China.
“Keppel’s in-house capabilities to execute the renewal works ourselves set us apart from other asset managers,” says Ng. “Whether it’s an industrial, office, or data center asset, our operational knowledge helps us to streamline the process of selecting which new technologies to implement and save on capex costs if the projected savings aren’t met.”
To date, Keppel has successfully implemented its SUR initiative in eight projects across five countries. Among these, in addition to Keppel South Central and Keppel Bay Towers, include Park Avenue Central, a mixed-use office and retail development in Shanghai; The Kube, a four-storey office building also in Shanghai; and Saigon Centre, a mixed-use office and retail development in Ho Chi Minh City. Three projects are yet to be completed, including Ocean Financial Centre, a 43-storey Grade-A office tower in Raffles Place; Inno88 Tower, a 367,210 sq ft office building in Seoul; and Kohinoor, a 1.1 million sq ft office block in Maharashtra, India.
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