IDENTIFYING AND ASSESSING CRITICAL PROJECT RISKS OF UNDERGROUND HOUSING IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

There has been a steady increase in the demand of land required for housing in Singapore, and with the population in Singapore expected to increase exponentially with the influx of foreigners, there is a need to explore an alternative aspect of housing.

This study aims to explore the benefits and disadvantages of underground housing, as well as the critical risks that affect the construction of underground housing. The criticality of the risks will be assessed based on the likelihood and impact of these risks. A survey was conducted to explore the criticality of these risks. Respondents were asked to rank risk factors in three different categories (country level, market level and project specific risks) on a 5-point Likert Scale to investigate the criticality of each risk factor.

The results indicated that the most critical risk factor is that of labor restrictions and there are significant risks in each category that should be assessed at the initial phase of the project. With the results obtained, it is hoped that companies who are looking towards exploring this avenue of underground housing will be able to gain some insight on the pertinent risk factors. This may also serve as a guide for the project team’s initial risk assessment when embarking on such a project.

Due to the land scarcity in Singapore, there is a grappling need to build higher and go deeper to further extend the possibility of new construction and to cope with the population increase and higher demand for housing.