Singapore awards landmark tender for integrated construction and precast hub

Up to three more coming this year.

SEF Group Ltd (SEF) announced the development of their first Integrated Construction and Precast Hub (ICPH) at Kaki Bukit, which is the first to be awarded under a public tender by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) as part of the government’s initiatives to transform the industry to one that adopts highly productive technology and mechanisation.

Upon completion, the new ICPH will be equipped with state of art automated production line using advanced European Technologies, which will have an annual production capacity of more than 100,000 cubic meters of precast components. This is three times more than a conventional open precast yard. The factory setting not only speeds up the production process but also provides better quality control of the precast concrete products. The ICPH is also capable of producing more than 25 types of components, both structural, architectural as well as prefinished, preassembled products for use in both public and private sectors projects.

"In land scarce Singapore, the concept of an integrated hub will allow a more efficient use of land. Besides the production of precast components, the 32,608 sq m five-storey building will also be used for related purposes such as offices and dormitories for the workers. The SEF’s ICPH will be the first in Singapore to make use of a multi-tiered fully automated storage system," the company and BCA said in a joint release.

"The storage system is capable of storing more than 100 trailers worth of completed components including bulky 3-D components such as household shelters. In addition, the system for tracking of inventory of precast components as well as the preparation prior to delivery, is also fully automated. SEF will be integrating advanced Building Information Modeling (BIM) software with the control and management software to gather installation updates from project sites to achieve a ‘Just in Time’ production, in order to cut down on storage space," they added.

Dr John Keung, CEO of BCA said, “With our productivity drive towards off-site production, mechanization and standardization, the demand for precast components will increase significantly in the next few years. The concept of the integrated construction and precast hub is suitable for Singapore as it allows us to intensify land use while ensuring production of high quality precast components. Such facilities will be the next step forward for our local precasters towards automation, process integration, improved quality and significant productivity improvement.” BCA will be rolling out more tenders for new ICPHs, about two to three more this year, to boost the industry’s capability and capacity in this area. Dr Keung urged those who are interested in the upcoming land tenders to look out for the announcements.

Ms Eileen Ng, Managing Director of SEF added, “We see automation as the way forward as there is a huge opportunity in making use of technology to meet construction needs. Prefabrication has been well-accepted locally but there is still potential to automate the processes to improve productivity. The ICPH gives us a platform on which we can integrate all technologies from design to production and delivery into seamless processes. This intensified development has sophisticated production lines to achieve large productivity gain.”

Despite having a large production capacity, the ICPH will be adopting environmentally-friendly practices to cut down on water consumption, such as by recycling and treating rainwater and grey water (collected from wash basin and shower area) to industrial water for production use. The recycled water is expected to be able to fulfill daily production needs. In addition, there will also be a high efficient low energy heater, reducing energy consumption and boiling time by up to 50%, to produce hot water for production use. SEF will also be employing a more productive suspension concrete in their production, on top of normal concrete, which can help cut down the amount of cement, aggregate and water used by up to 30%.

SEF will be naming the ICPH, SEF SPACEHub, to reflect the company’s focus on Sustainability through their core business in Prefabrication, Architectural, Construction and Engineering. The ICPH is expected to start its production next year.