ADAPTING BUILDINGS TO SINGAPORE'S CLIMATE CHANGE

Abstract

Buildings as the first line of defence must adapt to climate change by preparing for expected or unexpected vulnerabilities. Multiple flashflood events occurring over recent months in Singapore suggested the need to enhance the adaptive capacity of local buildings in order to ensure that buildings remain desirable places for livelihoods and work. Key literature references identified several potential design strategies to address floods and emphasized on the importance of buildings to be adapted to climate change. The objectives of this study were to explore potential ways to build up adaptive capacity in Singapore’s building designs particularly to prevent inland flooding through lessons learnt from other countries and to determine whether current local guidelines on green buildings are sufficient in response to climate change risks. A questionnaire was administered to industry practitioners to gather their opinions on climate change adaptation with a sample size of 76. The results indicated that although local practitioners may not have high level knowledge on climate change adaptation, most still felt that potential impacts of climate change affecting Singapore will be substantial. Majority indicated that considerations should be placed on improving local green building guidelines as well as incorporating new design strategies to building designs in anticipation of potential flash floods occurrences. The most important strategy identified by respondents was to design buildings above current flood elevation levels. A detailed case study was also documented to assess the effectiveness of, as well as public’s acceptability towards the implementation of a preventive solution to floods.