Keppel unveils retail and F&B lineup for Keppel Marina East Desalination PlantMixed-use Keppel Bay Tower becomes Singapore’s first zero-energy commercial building Keppel to pivot focus to brownfield development projectsFile photo of Keppel’s office building (Photo: Keppel Land)Keppel is shifting its focus from greenfield developments to brownfield redevelopment projects after the completion of Keppel South Central, according to Samuel Ng, president of the real estate division in Singapore. He states that Keppel South Central is a showcase of the company’s abilities.The article is about Keppel, a global asset manager and operator, and their plans to shift their focus to brownfield projects after completing their flagship commercial tower – Keppel South Central. The president of Keppel’s real estate division in Singapore, Samuel Ng, states that the redevelopment of Keppel South Central is a showpiece for the company.
The former Keppel Towers, now known as Keppel South Central, is a 27-storey office tower that was built in 1991. The adjacent Keppel Towers 2, previously known as GE Tower, was built in 1993. Keppel announced the completion of Keppel South Central last month. The 33-storey commercial tower, located in Tanjong Pagar, offers approximately 650,000 sq ft of office, retail, and event space. The office floors range from 20,000 to 22,000 sq ft, with a clear ceiling height of 3.2m.
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According to Ng, almost half of the office space and retail units in the tower have been leased or are currently in negotiations. The first anchor tenant, a leading financial services group, has already secured two whole floors. The office tenants are expected to move in from June. In addition to the office and retail spaces, the ground floor of the tower also offers event spaces. The renovation of Keppel South Central has introduced several technological improvements, including facial recognition access, 5G Wi-Fi, and an indoor air-quality management system. The office space has also been adapted to support the needs of modern tenants, allowing for after-hours operations. The tower has designated floors with micro ACUs, which provide localized cooling when needed, optimizing energy usage.
Along with the new office space, the tower also offers wellness spaces, shared facilities such as a swimming pool, and end-of-trip facilities on Basement 1. These facilities were not present in the original Keppel Towers, and they bring the development in line with the standards for Grade-A office spaces. Ng also mentions that Keppel has a team in place to activate event spaces across the tower and engage directly with tenants through a mobile application to gather feedback and host events based on their interests.
Keppel South Central has been certified by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) as a Green Mark Platinum Super Low Energy building, making it highly energy-efficient. It is estimated that the tower will save approximately 6.2 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy each year, equivalent to the power consumption of 1,300 homes in Singapore. This translates to an annual saving of about $1.8 million. To achieve this, Keppel incorporated green solutions they had tested previously at another ageing property, Keppel Bay Tower. The company leveraged a BCA grant in 2018 to test five new technologies at the tower, increasing its energy efficiency by 20% compared to other BCA Green Mark Platinum Buildings. Keppel Bay Tower became Singapore’s first zero-energy commercial building in 2020. Ng states that this experience equipped Keppel with the knowledge to apply these technologies to their other properties worldwide.
Keppel is looking to replicate the success of Keppel South Central across the region through its Sustainable Urban Renewal (SUR) strategy. Ng states that in Asia Pacific alone, a large number of office buildings built in the 1990s or earlier will not pass the new standards for Grade-A office spaces. This presents an opportunity for sustainability-focused retrofits, especially since a JLL report predicts that by 2030, occupiers across Asia Pacific will be looking to have entirely green-certified properties in their portfolios. Ng adds that Keppel’s in-house capability to execute renewal works helps them stand out from other asset managers, and their operational knowledge allows them to streamline the process of selecting and implementing new technologies, resulting in cost savings. In April, Keppel announced the first close of its flagship Keppel Sustainable Urban Renewal Fund (KSURF), with over $2.3 billion worth of assets under management. The fund will target properties across the commercial, living, life sciences, hospitality, and logistics segments in several countries, including Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and first-tier cities in China. Ng also mentions that Keppel has applied its SUR initiative to eight projects across five countries, and they are looking to complete three more projects in the near future.
Ng states that Keppel’s aim is to fund the redevelopment of brownfield projects across the region, using the proceeds from the sale of these assets after renovation. He adds that Keppel has a team in place to acquire the assets, complete the necessary enhancement works, stabilize occupancy, and divest the asset within the fund’s seven-year life. This approach has worked well with their previous projects, and they are looking to continue this trend. In Singapore, ageing office buildings are usually redeveloped to recycle prime commercial land in the CBD. Knight Frank Singapore’s head of research, Leonard Tay, states that projects like Keppel South Central provide a fresh supply of office space at a time when there are no available sites for new office tower developments in the CBD.