SOUTHEAST ASIA CONSTRUCTION25 Feb 2022
Singapore’s Avenue South Residence soars to new heights as world’s tallest PPVC residential building

The Avenue South Residence development in Singapore has topped out with the last PPVC module being placed atop the 56-storey building. Developer UOL Group Limited and its joint venture partners – Singapore Land Group and Kheng Leong Company (50:30:20) – along with main contractor United Tec Construction, held a topping out ceremony for the project today (25 Feb), attended by Singapore’s Minister for National Development Desmond Lee.

UOL is one of the first developers in Singapore to adopt PPVC (prefabricated prefinished volumetric construction) for its developments, in line with the government’s push for productivity and sustainability. The other projects by UOL – The Clement Canopy and more recently, Clavon – have also used this construction method.

Sitting on the doorstep of the Greater Southern Waterfront, the 1,074-unit Avenue South Residence comprises two 56-storey towers reaching 192 m and five low-rise conservation blocks. The development has been dubbed the world’s tallest PPVC residential building, and is integrated with a park that connects to the 24-km-long Rail Corridor.

According to UOL, the PPVC method improved productivity of this project by about 40% in terms of manpower and time savings. The technology also reduced pollution and noise as the apartment modules were built offsite, thus improving the health and safety of construction workers and people living and working near the project site. In addition, quality control was improved as the PPVC modules were built in a controlled factory environment.

In all, more than 3,000 freestanding volumetric apartment modules completed with internal finishes, fixtures and fittings, were built in a factory in Tuas and transported to the construction site to be stacked one on top of the other.

“We are happy to have the opportunity to work with UOL again to construct Avenue South Residence, the largest residential development that uses the PPVC method. While there were some challenges such as the Covid-19 disruptions, productivity still went up about 40% compared with conventional methods without compromising on project quality and safety. I believe this is the sustainable way forward for construction,” said Allan Tan, managing director of United Tec Construction.

“Avenue South Residence has demonstrated how government policies and initiatives, together with industry adoption of digitalisation and technology, can help the built environment industry improve productivity, attract talent and build resilience to grow for tomorrow,” explained Liam Wee Sin, chief executive of UOL Group. “We thank Minister Desmond Lee for gracing the topping out ceremony of the world’s tallest PPVC residential development.”

Mr Liam added, “Our industry continues to face headwinds aggravated by Covid-19 such as foreign labour shortages, low productivity and supply chain disruptions. To overcome some of the issues, we must adopt digitalisation for integrated digital delivery; decarbonisation to address long-term climate change issues; and develop industry alliance to accelerate transformation as exemplified in this project.”

The Avenue South Residence development is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2023.

Image credits:
Image 1 & 2: UOL
Image 3: United Tec Construction