Speech by Minister Chee Hong Tat at Surbana Jurong's 10th Anniversary Celebration and Client Day
Oct 14, 2025
Introduction
A very good afternoon. I am happy to join you to celebrate Surbana Jurong’s 10th anniversary and Client Day here at the Surbana Jurong (SJ) Campus.
When Prime Minister Lawrence Wong opened this Campus last year, he reflected on Surbana Jurong’s journey - from its early beginnings to becoming one of the world’s leading urban and infrastructure consulting firms.
As we mark SJ Group’s milestone anniversary today, it is not only a moment to look back with pride, but also to look ahead with purpose - to chart the next decade of growth.
SJ Group’s Decade of Growth and Global Impact
SJ Group has grown from strength-to-strength since its formation a decade ago.
Once departments in HDB and JTC respectively, Surbana International Consultants and Jurong International Holdings merged in 2015 to form a single entity offering a wider range of services in urban development – from healthcare architecture and skyscraper engineering to climate engineering solutions, all of which are important for Singapore’s continued development and not just Singapore, development in the region and the rest of the world.
Today, SJ Group is an integrated consultancy with over 16,000 employees, from engineers, architects, planners to specialists across 48 different countries. I’m sure Chaly and Sean have plans to grow this even further, together with all. This is truly a testament to your global reach and your strong international reputation.
But beyond numbers, SJ Group’s evolution reflects its ability to export Singapore’s brand of expertise, innovation and values to the world.
Advancing Singapore’s Built Environment Transformation
SJ Group has been at the forefront of transforming Singapore’s Built Environment –
As an early adopter of 3D building information modelling methods and integrated design delivery tools, and in transitioning towards prefabricated construction methods.
SJ Group also helped to mainstream designing for off-site prefabrication of building components across the industry, which has helped to drive productivity and innovation in our construction ecosystem. This is something that the government and MND family will continue to support, the use of prefab.
SJ Campus as a Living Laboratory for Sustainable Urban Systems
SJ Group is also supporting Singapore’s decarbonisation journey. Your development of sustainable urban systems demonstrates that environmental responsibility and economic viability are not at odds, are not mutually exclusive, they are not competing priorities, but complementary objectives that can be achieved through thoughtful design and innovative technology.
The SJ Campus exemplifies this ethos. More than an office, it is like what Sean said, a living laboratory where digital and sustainable technologies are tested, refined, proven and scaled up.
And as Sean shared earlier, the Campus has obtained BCA’s Green Mark Platinum and Super Low Energy certifications while embracing greenery as an integral part of its design.
The Campus produces over 400 megawatt-hours (MWh) of solar energy annually and achieves more than 40% in energy savings, while maintaining high standards of comfort and functionality.
I am also pleased that you are unveiling the Digital Experience Centre today, showcasing how these solutions can be applied more widely, including in our housing estates.
Preparing for the AI Revolution
Ladies and gentlemen, looking ahead, one of our greatest challenges, not just for Surbana Jurong and the Built Environment, but for the whole society and the whole economy, is to prepare our industries and workforce to harness artificial intelligence (“AI”) through automation, smarter design, and productivity gains.
I am encouraged by your planned partnership with the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) to establish the SUTD Design and AI Fab Lab at SJ, which brings together academia and industry to co-develop AI-driven solutions for real-world challenges.
This exemplifies the mindset we need for the future, where human creativity and artificial intelligence work hand in hand to shape better outcomes for society.
I believe that companies can achieve greater success when technology transformation is people-led and customer, human-centric. Investments in technology should go hand in hand with investments in training to upskill the workforce and enable workers to make good use of this set of tools.
This man-machine combination has been found to outperform humans or machines working separately. Just to give you an example, this is quite a dated example, I’m sure there are many more recent examples. This example is IBM’s Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer that used artificial intelligence and machine learning, so it became very good at the game and he was able to defeat chess grandmaster Kasparov in 1997. What this shows is the combination of people and machines that defeated Kasparov. It’s not just machines itself but human beings, combining their knowledge as programmers and chess players, teamed up together to modify Deep Blue’s programming between matches to secure this combined victory. This is just one of many examples where we want to use technology to augment our workers and enable them to become more productive, and also enable technology to reach its full potential.
The man-machine partnership worked because it combined the computer’s analytical power with the human ability to think creatively and to be strategic long-term
Supporting Singapore’s City in Nature vision as a We-First society
While we celebrate the successes of SJ Group today, I’d like to take this opportunity to highlight how SJ Group is also giving back. As part of a “we-first” society that PM spoke about in his National Day Rally, it is important for companies who are doing well to also focus on doing right and doing good.
I would like to thank SJ Group for your contributions to NParks’ Garden City Fund, in support of our City in Nature vision. Your donation of one million Singapore dollars and equivalent skill contributions in-kind to support the implementation of nature-based solutions will certainly help advance our climate adaptation and biodiversity conservation efforts.
We are happy to recognise SJ Group’s contributions through an orchid dedication later. This orchid that we will be dedicating – the Vanda Surbana Jurong, is part of the same genus as our national flower, the Vanda Miss Joaquim, and it celebrates the collaboration between SJ Group and NParks.
Conclusion
Let me conclude my speech by congratulating SJ Group on a decade of remarkable growth and transformation. Your journey shows that Singaporean companies can grow globally and remain competitive while being committed to supporting our nation’s development, uplifting our workers, creating jobs for our people
Actually the gentleman who is seated next to Chaly, Mr Tan Chon Meng, used to head the PSA Group - another Singaporean company that has become a global brand name and creating good jobs for people. So this concept is not limited to the Built Environment sector. We have to encourage more companies to think along similar lines. Not everyone is as big or has as much resources as PSA or SJ. Some of you may be SMEs - maybe smaller - but in your own way, you will be able to find your niche and your networks. You need to have that spirit of ‘Let’s venture, let’s try something new, let’s go seek out new opportunities and new markets.’ And this is something we are reviewing under the Economic Strategy Review. We are quite clear that this has to be part of the equation, because Singapore, is quite small; the domestic market is not very big and you might not be able to achieve sufficient scale.
So this is going to be an important part of our next phase of economic development. How do we encourage and support more of our companies, and also see how the more successful large companies like PSA and SJ can bring along some of our local SMEs. When you participate in some of the overseas projects, you are also able to bring along some of the local companies who have good capabilities, good products and services to offer, and they can go together with you as a package. We are then able to offer that Singapore branding to our international clients.
As we enter the next decade, your continued success will depend on stronger collaboration, bolder innovation and your unwavering commitment to sustainability.
I have every confidence that SJ Group will reach even greater heights in the years ahead.
Thank you.