Here comes the geniuses: Researchers, engineers in Singapore to swell to 60,000

They're riding the tide of R&D building boom.

Singapore is becoming home not only to the richest people, but also to the smartest and most intelligent ones. R&D buildings have been unstoppingly sprouting, and researchers and engineers are getting more attracted to fly to Singapore and stay here.

According to Cushman & Wakefield, leasing momentum in the industrial market was relatively slow following a lacklustre quarter of enquiries from tenants for both high-tech and business park space in 2Q 2014.

Here's more from Cushman & Wakefield:

The sluggish leasing activities could be attributed to the recent slowdown in industrial production and this in turn could have led industrialists to hold back on their plans to take up new spaces.

The slowdown in the electronics cluster would also have dampened sentiment in the market. Nevertheless demand for conventional factories was
slightly more upbeat as tenants continued to seek out spaces in these buildings largely due to their affordable rentals compared to that of the newer high-tech and business park space.

During the quarter, the market saw the opening of a few Research & Development (R&D) buildings. In April Alcon, a unit of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis announced the opening of its new S$200 million (m) eye-care plant in Tuas Biomedical Park.

The R&D sector also saw the opening of consumer-goods manufacturer Procter & Gamble (P&G) new S$250 million 344,445 square feet (sf) R&D Centre in Biopolis at one-north.

According to the Economic Development Board (EDB) the sector is expected to see the number of researchers and engineers in Singapore, which stood
at more than 30,000 today, to reach close to 60,000 by 2020.

In the logistics sector, DHL Supply Chain broke ground with its new S$160 million (645,834 sf) integrated build-to-suit facility located in Tampines Logispark. US supply chain Menlo Logistics has also opened its S$127 million (538,195 sf) logistics facility at Mapletree Benoi Logistics Hub.

The market has been seeing a steady demand for warehouse space. According to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), the annual new warehouse supply has been increasing since 2011 (average 2.8 m sf over 2011 to 2013) and this has been in tandem with the average annual warehouse demand of 2.4 m sf over the same period.

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