Sustainable Retrofit to Drive Green Innovation and Energy Efficiency
DBS Bank has officially opened its first net-zero building, DBS Newton Green, in Singapore, marking a significant milestone for the bank and the country’s green building efforts. The four-storey, 30-year-old building, retrofitted at a cost of over S$5 million, is now the first net-zero building in Singapore to be owned by a bank.
The building features over 1,000 square metres of solar panels on its rooftop, self-powered solar air-conditioning systems, exhaust fans, and lamp-posts, alongside an exterior made of bamboo slats to provide shading. Additionally, 10 per cent of the previously air-conditioned floor area has been converted into naturally ventilated spaces, contributing to the building’s sustainability.
A net-zero building consumes only as much energy as it produces. Prior to retrofitting, the building consumed approximately 845,000 kWh annually, equivalent to the energy consumption of about 200 four-room HDB flats in Singapore. The retrofitting, which began in mid-2021, also received support from Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority (BCA) under the Green Buildings Innovation Cluster (GBIC) Programme.
Minister for National Development Desmond Lee, who attended the official opening, highlighted the challenges and complexities of retrofitting older buildings to meet sustainability standards, noting that transforming an existing structure is often more difficult and costly than designing a new green building.
DBS Newton Green has earned BCA’s Green Mark Platinum Zero Energy certification and the Singapore Good Design Mark 2022 for Sustainable Design. The project contributes to Singapore’s Green Building Masterplan, which aims to green 80 per cent of the country’s buildings by Gross Floor Area by 2030.
DBS CEO Piyush Gupta stated that retrofitting the building rather than redeveloping it was an “easy and obvious choice,” emphasising that the building serves as a model for future office spaces and a testbed for sustainable technologies that can be scaled across other offices and organisations.
The initiative plays a crucial role in helping Singapore become a regional leader in sustainability solutions, contributing to economic growth and environmental preservation.
