Innovation and Talent Development Help the Building and Construction Authority to Play a Greater Role in Improving Singapore’s Built Environment
Wherever you go in Singapore, whether you are driving down the KPE tunnel or sitting at home in your living room, you can be sure that the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) has had a hand in the development of your surroundings. This is because the BCA is responsible for regulating Singapore’s built environment – the physical infrastructure that you see around you every day.
BCA, however, has in recent years moved beyond its basic role of regulating building safety to also become a champion of key issues and new approaches in the built environment sector. These include areas such as sustainability, quality, accessibility and productivity, all of which are key ingredients of a future-ready built environment. It has made good progress to date.
Through the Green Mark Scheme, for example, BCA is driving the greening of Singapore’s built environment. Currently, 21.4% of all buildings in Singapore meet the minimum Green Mark standards and the goal is to increase this to 80% by 2030. BCA’s relentless pursuit of environmental sustainability and the effectiveness of its successive Green Building masterplans have attracted a lot of international attention and led to BCA being recognised as a global leader in green building in the tropics.
Productivity is another key area in which the BCA provides guidance and support to industry players – a large proportion of which are SMEs. Through various incentive schemes, it has set aside $250 million to encourage and facilitate companies’ efforts to adopt productivity-enhancing construction methods and technologies and reduce their reliance on low-cost foreign labour.
“We are not just regulating the industry, but also leading the changes within it and setting its future direction,” shares Dr John Keung, BCA’s Chief Executive. “As our role has evolved, we have had to change the mindset within the organisation to become more innovative, proactive and forward- thinking. This is a necessary change in our mindset to ensure that our built environment is future-ready.”
John Keung
"The Business Excellence framework’s focus on continuous improvement helps to drive our innovation efforts, as everyone in the organisation understands that we need to be constantly looking for ways to do things better and to make our built environment future-ready.”
Dr John Keung
Managing Director
Chief Executive of BCA
Nurturing Innovation
BCA’s innovation journey started about four to five years ago with the introduction of a variety of initiatives. These include the Chairman’s Innovation Challenge Award, which recognises staff achievements in innovation and the setting up of SPARKS and SPICE teams.
The SPARKS and SPICE programmes are efforts to draw on the ideas and capabilities of the entire organisation, says Dr Keung. “We designate a promising officer as a leader to oversee a team and tackle certain challenges, and then open it to all in BCA to volunteer their participation. It is encouraging to see so many staff volunteering to work on the projects. It shows that there is a great deal of passion and talent within the organisation.”
BCA’s senior management also regularly host informal tea sessions with smaller groups of staff from across the organisation. These provide an opportunity for senior managers to get an on-the-ground perspective of what staff do, the challenges they face, and the ideas they may have for improvements.
A Focus on People
Indeed, BCA’s staff are its single most important resource, not just for ideas, but also for carrying out day-to-day operations.Recognising this, BCA has implemented a number of staff development programmes to ensure its people are in a position to lead the industry’s transformation.
A core competency framework has been developed to grade the technical competence of staff at one of four levels: foundation, intermediate, advanced or expert. The aim is to have a progression framework for the professional and technical development of staff, offering support for training and development along the way. This dovetails with BCA’s Associate Professional and Talent Management programmes, which aim to help managerial, professional, technical and non-technical officers advance their careers through stretch assignments and local and overseas training. Staff are also regularly seconded to construction projects around the region and the world, to gain insights into the latest building and construction processes and technologies.
“All of these efforts help to keep our people and the BCA as a whole at the forefront of the industry. If we are not the experts, how can we possibly regulate the industry, let alone lead its development?” says Dr Keung.
“There is nothing better than having a systematic way of achieving excellence. The framework is a valuable tool for the management team and helps to motivate and fo