The top two
partners in Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, Mr David Childs and Ms
Marilyn Taylor, were recently in town to talk about the "Emerging
Trends in Planning and Design of New Generation Business Districts".
The talk which was delivered by Mr David Childs was organised jointly
by the Urban Redevelopment Authority and Mapletree Investments. It
was well-attended by several past Chief Planners, and players in the
real estate industry.
SOM, which is one of the world's leading architectural planning firms
has been at the forefront of planning and designing new financial
districts, campus complexes, buildings and work spaces for clients
such as Canary Wharf, UBS, Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns, the New York
Stock Exchange.
In his talk, Mr Childs spoke about what the world financial cities
like New York, Frankfurt, London, and Tokyo had in common, which was
the ability to offer a high quality of urban working and living environment
for financial services professionals.
He touched on some of the challenges facing the Singapore CBD, which
were:
1. Inadequate floor plates, size, span, floor heights;
2. Lack of new technology: raised floors, redundancy;
3. Limited tenant amenities;
4. Inability to expand
He then described the evolution of offices, especially financial services
as follows:
| 1970s |
Pressure to new
bigger floor plates in the suburbs; |
| 1980s |
Technological advances
which enable the creation of such spaces (Merrill Lynch at the
World Financial Centre, New York) |
| 1990s |
Super trading floors
(UBS Warburg at Stamford). |
The factors driving the changes in new trends were:
- Global orientation
of business and the need to have an efficient space utilization
- Technology & information
for knowledge workers and the need to be mobile and flexible to
adapt people and space to business and technology needs
- Need to attract and
train the professional workers, therefore the need to provide
amenities
- Environmental sensitivity:
integration of safety and security measures in view of Sept 11
He identified characteristics
of the work environment that enabled optimal employee performance
including supporting the work process and facilitating communication,
inspiring creativity and original thinking, providing "lifestyle"
amenities, and promoting employee health and well-being through
the use of green design, ergonomics, natural light, and security
and life safety.
The workplace had become
an integral element of business strategy. Space was not about real
estate, it was about the exploitation of technology to serve the
needs in an appropriate manner.
Several SOM projects
were cited:
- Merrill Lynch HQ,
World Financial Centre, NY Completed 1988
- Chase Metrotech,
Brooklyn, NY Completed 1993 (1.8 million sf, the start of large
floor plate spaces with 12,000 sf continuous space)
- NY Mercantile Exchange,
World Financial Centre, 1997
- UBS Warburg Center,
Stamford, Connecticut. Completed 1998 (12-acre/ 4.85ha complex
with 3.2 mil sf of space for offices, trading areas, parking,
and public amenities. It contains a large clear-span 50,000 sf-trading
floor plate which houses 1,400 traders under one roof)
- Goldman Sachs, 30
Hudson NJ. Completion 2003 (1mil sf, 44-story mixed-use office
development and training campus)
- Bear Stearns World
Headquarters, 383 Madison Av, NY Completed 2001 (6 trading floors;
1.2mil sf with 285,000 sf transferred from Grand Central's air
rights)
- AOL Time Warner Center
located at the junction of 59th Street and Columbus Circle at
the southwest corner of Central Park. Completion 2003 (2.75 mil
sf; the largest development in NY to-date; mixed use comprising
retail, restaurant; entertainment, educational and performance
facility; luxury hotel, meeting facility and spa; luxury condominium
residences; offices and car park for 600);
- Canary Wharf (revitalization
of part of Docklands, London; 12.5 million sf; office and trading
floor space, as well as public recreational and retail facilities.
Masterplanning by SOM comprising 26 separate building sites, the
majority of which were located over the water and along the perimeter
of the wharf creating an independent "city.")
- Proposal for the rebuilding
of World Trade Center
SOM has also worked
on 3 projects in Singapore, including Changi Airport, Terminal 3.
At the end of the presentation, SOM fielded several queries from
the audience on several pertinent issues arising from the demands
and changes in buildings housing financial services. In view of
the relocation of major financial institutions to new locations
with larger floor plates, a participant queried if existing buildings
housing financial institutions would be rendered obsolete. SOM shared
their experiences in New York, where after several financial institutions
moved from Manhattan to Mid-town, several existing Manhattan buildings
were adapted for residential use, bringing about a resurgence of
young families returning to live downtown. In their view, office
floor plates of 8-10 thousand sf, or even 13-15 thousand could be
converted into residential uses.
Responding to another query on the impending supply that would be
generated by the new Downtown Core, SOM commented that URA had demonstrated
decades of public leadership to plan the city, with the provision
of infrastructure (including MRT) to the area. However, although
a plan for a large area might already be conceived, SOM advised
that the plans would have to be reviewed. Hence the most prudent
approach was to adopt a flexible approach. SOM felt strongly that
there would also be a need for a strong draw to the area to give
developmental value, possibly through a commitment to cultural activities.
In the New Downtown core, Theatres at the Bay would be a natural
focal point..
SOM was also asked if Sept 11 had caused concern over tall buildings.
SOM responded that lessons could be learnt from the event but that
great cities needed to sustain great design. There was a need for
simplicity, and security had to be addressed. For New York, it was
important to get the city up and running again and the city had
to be open to all schools of urban design to build a robust city.
(Incidentally, it was reported in The Straits Times 18 July 2002
that six proposals had been received for the 6.4ha World Trade Centre
site, incorporating a memorial. All plans were prepared by one firm
of consultants)
Footnote:
To date, there have been 2 successfully awarded sites in the New
Downtown Core.
The adjacent 1st sale site at Marina Boulevard was successfully
awarded in 16 March 2001 (1.1ha; allowable gross plot ratio of 13.0/147,770
m2) $461.8mil ($3,125.1 sqm/ $290psf per plot ratio) to a consortium
of Li Ka-Shing's Cheung Kong Holdings, Hongkong Land and Keppel
Land. It is speculated that the total investment cost would be $1bil.
The second white site (9,090.9sq m; allowable gross plot ratio 13
and floor area 118,182sq m) at Marina Boulevard was awarded in 14
May 02 to City-Dev-linked Glengary Pte Ltd at 288.9mil ($2,444.5
sq m/ $227 psf per gross plot ratio).
It was reported in The Business Times 1 March 2002, that the government
has been looking seriously at the option of giving private developers
a free hand to plan and build an integrated multi-billion dollar
development. An inter-ministry team including the URA and MAS is
currently assessing the feasibility of such a proposal.
Recently, the Minister of National Development, Mah Bow Tan, announced
on 15 Aug 2002 that a large land parcel at the new Downtown core
will be offered for sale to a master developer. The government will
consider a radical progressive payment scheme to offer flexibility
to the company or consortium. This land parcel is estimated to yield
about 400,000 sqm of gross floor area of space. The details are
currently being worked out by URA and expected to be tendered out
in the first half of next year.
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