Future of HDB living to be more sustainable while enhancing well-being
The future of Housing Board living will see smart fittings that give home owners the option of not only monitoring energy consumption and controlling smart appliances, but also directional signage with larger fonts and pictorial symbols.
This is to ensure smart and sustainable living will keep pace with Singapore's ageing population, said Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat.
He added that a people-centric approach that anticipates the physical, social and mental well-being of residents is core to HDB's plan for improving the living environment.
In an HDB webinar yesterday, Mr Heng laid out a new blueprint that will guide the planning of HDB towns and flats for the next decade or so, in both new public housing developments and existing towns.
Called Designing for Life, the new HDB road map is anchored by three pillars: Live Well, which enhances the health and well-being of residents through the built environment; Live Smart, which incorporates smart and sustainable technologies; and Live Connected, which focuses on community participation in shaping public spaces.
TIMELY
Mr Heng said the road map is timely, as the Covid-19 pandemic has made Singaporeans view their home in a new light.
"For many, home has become a sanctuary from the pandemic. For some, home is increasingly a space for work. For all, home is where we bond with our loved ones," he said.
An upcoming housing development that will showcase the features under the new road map is Parc Residences @ Tengah, a Build-To-Order (BTO) project launched in August.
A yet-to-be-named adjacent BTO project will share the amenities. Both are in Park district, one of five housing districts in the "forest town" of Tengah.
The 2,200 flats in these developments will be integrated with childcare centres, a Residents' Committee centre and other facilities. The nearby neighbourhood centre will be integrated with a polyclinic for easy access to care facilities for both the young and old.
Integrated developments such as Kampung Admiralty in Woodlands and Oasis Terraces in Punggol will be more common, said Mr Heng.
To nurture a kampung spirit, HDB will seek residents' suggestions to design and build their preferred shared spaces such as void decks. It will pilot this next year in selected BTO projects in Tampines and Dawson.
Smart technologies will also feature in new flats in Tengah.
Home owners can subscribe to an energy-efficient centralised cooling system and monitor their usage via an app, potentially saving up 30 per cent in life cycle costs.
Up to 10 per cent of carpark lots will feature infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs). The electric load needed by the EV charging will be supplemented by the solar energy collected via solar photovoltaic panels on the rooftops of nearby blocks.
Green features including solar panels will be rolled out to existing towns under a 10-year HDB Green Towns programme, which aims to make every town in Singapore more sustainable and liveable by 2030.
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