Mr Alan Chan, Chairman, URA

Mrs Cheong Koon Hean, CEO, URA

Mr Kaoru Mende, President, Lighting Planners Associates

Distinguished guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

1. Good evening. It gives me great pleasure to be here this evening to unveil the exhibition ‘Lighting up our City Centre’.

Benefits of Good Lighting

2. Many cities around the world recognize the importance of good lighting. Good lighting in buildings and public spaces helps to create a captivating night scene that increases a city’s appeal. It produces an aesthetic impact different from that in the day-time, and enlivens a visitor’s experience. Good lighting designs give buildings further character, evoke inspiration and imagination, and draw appreciation. By creating opportunities for people to enjoy night-time activities, good lighting also adds life to the city.

3. A beautifully lit skyline can help brand a city, creating an image that is distinct and memorable. Cities such as Paris, London, Tokyo and Hong Kong have strategically made use of lighting to create their own distinct identity. We too, should use lighting design concepts that enhance Singapore’s unique features, thus differentiating us from other cities.

4. Much effort has been put in to make Singapore a vibrant global city, one with excellent architecture and interesting events. Good lighting adds to these efforts. It ensures the continuation of the attractiveness of a city even after sunset. In fact, it can create a new face for the city altogether, adding to the draw of Singapore as an interesting destination. The year-end light-up at Orchard Road is an example of how lighting can distinguish Singapore.

Lighting proposals for the City Centre

6. The Civic District today presents an example of how lighting of buildings can enhance an area. Many of the buildings, bridges and public spaces have been lighted up according to the Civic District Lighting Plan, launched in 1995. The results of the lighting plan can be witnessed today in Fullerton Hotel, the City Hall, Central Fire Station and many other historic buildings within the Civic District.

7. Besides the Civic District, we would like to see well-designed lighting in other areas within the city centre as well. Hence, URA has drawn up a detailed lighting plan covering Orchard Road, Singapore River, Bras Basah Bugis, the Central Business District and Marina Bay. This plan was announced in Parliament earlier this year. The idea is to use lighting to enhance and emphasise Singapore’s unique features as a tropical metropolis and garden city. At the same time, the character and features of districts within the city can also be re-inforced and differentiated with different lighting strategies.

8. For example, to enhance Orchard Road’s reputation as one of the world’s best and most engaging shopping street, the lighting proposal for Orchard Road calls for vibrant building facades and shopfronts, complemented by the lighting up of trees and street furniture to give a powerful visual impact to the visitors. The lighting design concept for Singapore River, on the other hand, plays up on the water element by using floating lights in the water and other lighting features to create a delightful waterfront promenade.

9. The Bras Basah Bugis area is envisaged to be a 24/7 entertainment hub of choice, a vibrant colourful district overflowing with youthful energy. The lighting plan for this area proposes to highlight gateways and focal points of entry with bright coloured lights and light-integrated sculptures. Building owners are encouraged to light up key landmarks in the district, to accentuate the historical and cultural wealth of the Bras Basah Bugis area.

10. To enhance its colourful character, we also want to encourage more luminous signages from building facades, 3D ‘art-vertisements’ and animation, media walls, etc. This would create a much more enticing and visually vibrant nightscape for the Bras Basah Bugis district. URA is currently in the process of reviewing the advertisement guidelines to encourage more bright lights at appropriate districts, and the Bras Basah Bugis area is one of the districts under this review.

Lighting incentives

11. The Government recognizes that cost factor can be a deterrent to building owners when deciding on the installation of night lighting for their buildings. To kickstart the realization of this plan, it was announced in March this year that we will offer new lighting incentives in the form of cash grant and additional Gross Floor Area (GFA) to help defray the expenditure on lighting installations. Building owners will be offered up to 2 percent additional Gross Floor Area to new developments and redevelopments in the CBD and Marina Centre, if acceptable night lightings are installed. For owners of existing buildings in the area, we will offer a cash grant to cover half the lighting installation cost if quality lighting proposal is implemented. I am happy to note that many developers and architects are excited about this initiative and they are already seeing lighting as an important part of their building design.

Conclusion

12. The lighting plan for the city centre is not just a paper plan that guides building owners and developers on the ‘hows’ and ‘whats’ of lighting up buildings. It is also a vision for Singapore to be a beautiful tropical metropolis, attracting Singaporeans and visitors to enjoy the most magical moments in our tropical city - at night! The guidelines and incentives are ‘means’ that are put in place to encourage the realization of this plan.

13. I would like to encourage the private sector to join us in this vision by Lighting Up Our City Centre. The vision can only be realized with the private sector participating in this plan to create a beautiful and memorable nightscape for our city. Thank you.

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