Singapore – CapitaLand, CapitaCommercial Trust, and Mitsubishi Estate Asia, the joint venture partners for the development of CapitaGreen, celebrated the topping-out of the new iconic 40-storey tall premium Grade A office building located at 138 Market Street in the heart of the Central Business District (CBD).
The ceremony was officiated by Guest-of-Honour Mr Khaw Boon Wan, the Minister for National Development. The Guest-of-Honour, representatives from the joint venture, main contractor Takenaka Corporation and the design architect Toyo Ito planted nine different plant species in a symbolic topping-out gesture to showcase the plants that will be grown in the building.
Mr Lim Ming Yan, President and Group Executive Officer of CapitaLand said, “We are delighted that CapitaGreen is on track to achieving completion by end 2014. This is made possible by the strong partnership among CapitaLand, CapitaCommercial Trust and Mitsubishi Estate Asia as well as the support and efforts of our consultants, contractors, staff, bankers, investors and government agencies.”
CapitaGreen is constructed using the efficient top-down construction method, which allows for the building’s basement and superstructure to be built concurrently. This method also eliminates the need for temporary steel struts for basement construction as the floor slabs are designed to support the basement walls, thus saving time and resources.
For its efficient and environmentally sustainable design, CapitaGreen has been awarded the Green Mark Platinum Award in 2012 and Universal Design GoldPLUS in 2013 by Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority.
The building’s innovative façade design has a 55 percent green ratio, meaning that over half the perimeter of its façade will be covered by living green plants. This energy-efficient double-skin façade comprises an outer layer of frameless glass and an inner envelope of double-glazed full-height glass. In between these two layers of glass are planter-boxes filled with shrubs and ground-covers. This façade helps to reduce solar heat gain by up to 26 percent. Premium, ultra-modern office space is further complemented by lush greenery in the sky terraces at selected floors and in the expansive roof-top sky garden, as well as unique sculptures by internationally renowned artists which will be tastefully integrated with the building design. With a net lettable area of approximately 700,000 square feet, CapitaGreen has one of the largest and most efficient, truly column-free floor plates (22,000 square feet to 26,000 square feet) and highest raised floor-to-ceiling height of 3.2 metres in any CBD office building.
While a skin of lush greenery envelops the full 245 metres of CapitaGreen, lush greenery can also be found in the sky terraces on 5th, 14th, and 26th floors and on the rooftop. The crown of the tower is marked by a distinctive Sky Forest of tropical trees and a sculptural ‘petalled’ funnel. These ‘petals’ draw in clean fresh air from the top of the tower into a cool void that penetrates 34 storeys of the building to deliver fresh air to tenants.
Mr Shojiro Kojima, Managing Director of Mitsubishi Estate Asia said, “CapitaGreen, our first office development in Singapore has made significant construction progress and leasing momentum with commitments from international companies. We have had a good experience working with our esteemed partners, CapitaLand and CapitaCommercial Trust, and are looking forward to seeing this exciting and iconic addition to the Singapore’s CBD skyline.”
CapitaGreen is due to be completed by the end of this year.
