With an “open concept” that maximises daylight to save energy on lighting, and walls made of recycled wood, business space developer Ascendas is hoping its newly-renovated, eco-friendly office will help to spread the “green message”, as it kicks off its own Green Month.
Located at the Singapore Science Park, this next-generation office features individual lighting at work stations, so that common lighting can be switched on and off as needed to reduce wastage.
And by opening up the peripheral walls, the number of people who can enjoy daylight has been increased by seven times, said Ascendas chief development planning officer Arthur Aw.
The office, renovated at a cost of about S$500,000, does not have a fixed layout, making it easier to reorganise the workspace to promote a collaborative and paperless work culture. With this layout, filing systems have been reduced by 40 per cent, said Mr Aw.
“The most important thing to me … to a sustainable office, is not just about all this energy-saving and lighting, but about our behaviour and about maximising use of space. As you can see, that we don’t just design individual work space, we design a common work space so that people can use the space for multiple uses … (like) meetings, gatherings, team-bonding, resting time, lunch time,” he said.
The month-long campaign, which aims to raise awareness on environmental issues with its tenants and the community, was launched by chairman of the Singapore Environment Council, Ms Isabella Loh.
Ascendas executive vice-president of real estate services Lim Sin Tiow said: “We want to inculcate this habit, this constant need to think about what we need to do, (how) our actions … will impact on our environment.”
