ADAPTIVE RE-USE OF BROWNFIELD SITES

Abstract

Due to limited land area in Singapore, the implication of brownfield sites on Singapore's landscape is not as obvious as the situation in United States and United Kingdom. But nevertheless, it is still a taxing problem, especially with Singapore's scare land resources, as brownfield sites represent a sizeable investment by the government. If these brownfield sites were economically and structurally feasible to be conserved and re-use, it would be more economical to spend the time and resources refurbishing them for current market needs, than to demolish and rebuild these sites. As most of the existing brownfield sites in Singapore are abandoned or underutilized, at the moment, work can be done to rejuvenate them, and help realized their full potential. However, though adaptive re-use of brownfield sites is essential for urban land use management, the promotion of rejuvenation is not without its problems. Thus, this study is set out to establish the possible commercial uses of these brownfield sites, ascertain the feasibility and evaluate the benefits of the adaptive re-use projects, and suggest recommendation for its implementation. Through a local case study, we analyzed if the process of adaptive re-use of brownfield sites is feasible and profitable for private developers to embark on. The findings concluded that the adaptive re-use projects will only be feasible and profitable if certain conditions are in place, and the government need to provide incentives for the private developers to embark on adaptive re-use projects on their own.