Rei Kurohi Winning projects by Nanyang Tech- nological University (NTU) and the Housing Board were among the record 424 awards given out by the Building and Construction Authori- ty at the annual BCA Awards cere- mony yesterday. NTU was the inaugural recipient of the new Green Mark Platinum Star Champion award, the highest accolade given out by BCA for sus- tainable design. NTU also won 37 Platinum Green Mark Awards for various projects, including the upcoming Academic Block North and the Clinical Scienc- es Building at its Novena campus. Both buildings were designed with energy-saving features such as demand-driven ventilation and high-performance glass windows with a special glaze that cuts heat absorption. NTU’s Provost, Professor Freddy Boey, said: “NTU also has bold plans to become one of the world’s most environmentally friendly universi- ty campuses. The university has been on a rapid drive to green all its new buildings as well as retrofit ex- isting ones.” The HDB bagged 33 awards in to- tal for 30 projects, including its Greenprint pilot neighbourhood project in Yuhua estate, which won a Platinum Green Mark Award. Its Build-To-Order project Sky- Ville @ Dawson, completed in July last year, is the first public housing project to win the Platinum Univer- sal Design Mark Award. Chief executive officer Cheong Koon Hean said: “We are honoured that our efforts in creating sustaina- ble, well-built, and well-designed homes and living environments for our residents have been recog- nised.” She promised to continue to deliver homes and estates that resi- dents would be proud of. Other eco-friendly developers recognised include CapitaLand, which received Green Mark awards for seven local and 14 overseas projects. City Developments won 10 Green Mark awards, including the Green Mark Pearl Prestige award for the second year running. In total, BCA gave out 304 Green Mark awards this year, which were presented by Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong. He said: ““Today, about 30 per cent of our buildings have green fea- tures. By green features, I mean fea- tures that include being energy and water efficient, being sensitive to their surrounding environments and providing a high quality indoor environment for their users. We aim to get 80 per cent of buildings with green features by 2030.” Since 2014, BCA has required ex- isting commercial buildings with a gross floor area of 15,000 sq m or more to comply with minimum sus- tainability standards when being retrofitted with new cooling sys- tems. From 2017, this will extend to buildings with a gross floor area of more than 5,000 sq m. [email protected] LEFT: HDB’s SkyVille @ Dawson is the first public housing project to win the Platinum Universal Design Mark Award. CENTRE: An artist's impression of NTU’s upcoming student hostel at North Hill. NTU plans to green all its new buildings and retrofit existing ones. RIGHT: An artist's impression of NTU’s upcoming Academic Block North which won the Platinum Green Mark Award. PHOTOS: COURTESY OF HDB, NTU Award is among record 424 prizes given out by BCA at annual event NTU wins top award for eco-design