Sentosa Property | Lush Dream Home

Category Archives: Sentosa Property

Integrated resorts set up green initiatives

Posted on 11 Dec 2009 | Comments Off

The two upcoming integrated resorts in Singapore, which open in the first quarter of next year, are not planning to gamble with the environment.

In fact, they have spent millions of dollars on green technologies and sustainable building concepts to conserve resources.

It has been a roller coaster ride for the environment, and climate change is a real threat. So companies, like Singapore’s two integrated resorts, are striving for greener practices.

Resorts World Sentosa, for instance, transplanted 900 trees affected by construction work. It is now replanting them – along the streets of Hollywood and New York – within its Universal Studios theme park.

The resort also has Singapore’s largest solar installation, that can generate over 500,000 kilowatts per hour of energy a year.

Noel Hawkes, vice president, Resort Operations, Resorts World Sentosa, said: “(With regards to) the solar power, we reckon we can save half a million Singapore dollars easily on electricity bills.

“We also have a very interesting ETFE roofing system over many of the al fresco dining areas of the resort, as well as in the Universal Studios where people are queuing, and this reduces the amount of sunlight by almost half.

“And we couple that with an eco-cooling system, which we have developed; it is not air conditioning, but it is cooling and it costs one-third of the cost of air conditioning.”

The ETFE plastic roofing will shelter about 70 per cent of the pedestrian walkways at the resort.

Another cost saving of over S$160,000 a year will come from a lagoon, which will harvest rainwater to be used for irrigation.

Meanwhile, Marina Bay Sands resort is also doing its part – by recycling paint from previous projects, as well as recycling construction waste. When completed, guests staying in the 2,500 luxury rooms at the three hotel towers can also play a role.

Thomas Arasi, CEO, Marina Bay Sands, said: “We have spent S$25 million on an intelligent building management system, and what that would do is that it would automatically record the customer’s needs and energy saving patterns.

“On the remote control in our guest room, there will be an eco button that you can hit and it will just take things up a notch and hopefully you will not feel it.”

Marina Bay Sands said it has also invested a substantial amount of money on the construction and operation of a massive chilled water plant to be located just off its third hotel tower. This will be done on a cost sharing basis between the resort and public entities.

The plant is expected to be ready in late 2010. Marina Bay Sands said it will provide chilled water to cool the resort as well as new buildings in the surrounding districts.

Observers said the use of chilled water could help lower air conditioning costs by up to 20 per cent.

Source : Channel NewsAsia – 11 Dec 2009

Comments Off on Integrated resorts set up green initiatives

Posted in Sentosa Property

Tagged Green Buildings, Marina Bay Sands, Resorts World Sentosa

Foreign buyers’ share of Sentosa Cove homes on the rise

Posted on 7 Dec 2009 | Comments Off

Proportion hits 43% in first 10 months, from 39% in ‘07-’08

Foreigners, including permanent residents, picked up nearly 43 per cent of the homes transacted in Sentosa Cove in the first 10 months of this year, up from about 38-39 per cent in 2007 and 2008.

A Savills analysis of caveats data captured by URA’s Realis system also showed that buyers from ‘Western’ countries – which it defined as those from Europe, North America, South America, Australia and New Zealand – made up four out of every 10 foreign buyers in Sentosa Cove between the fourth quarter of 2004 and Q4 2009.

In that period, such buyers were more active in Sentosa Cove than in the other sought-after districts of 1, 9, 10 and 11.

DTZ executive director (consulting) Ong Choon Fah observes: ‘Buyers from Western countries appreciate the lifestyle elements in residential developments a lot more. In their home markets, units in a project that face the water or bay can sometimes be priced double that of units that don’t have such a view.’

Savills found a total of 1,297 caveats lodged for purchases of private homes in Sentosa Cove over the five-year period, of which 487 (or 37.5 per cent) were from foreigners (including permanent residents). Singaporeans bought 705 units, giving them a 54 per cent share.

In the first 10 months of 2009, 133 caveats were lodged for homes in Sentosa Cove. Of these, 57 were bought by foreign buyers, with Malaysians having the largest share of 25 per cent or 14 caveats, followed by Indonesians, UK citizens, mainland Chinese and Hongkongers.

DTZ’s Mrs Ong said: ‘What Sentosa Cove offers is very unique. It’s as close to waterfront housing as you’ll get in Singapore, plus it’s a gated community, with limited car access to outsiders. Sentosa Cove used to be like a construction yard. Now, however, most of the homes have been developed, and foreigners may be even more inclined to buy.’

The additional draw to Sentosa Cove among foreign buyers is that it is the only location in Singapore where foreigners who are not Singapore permanent residents are allowed to purchase landed property.

However, they must still seek permission from the Land Dealings (Approval) Unit under the Singapore Land Authority.

The approval time for Sentosa Cove has been specially fast-tracked to 48 hours – compared with about four weeks for applications by PRs seeking approval to buy landed homes on mainland Singapore.

Mrs Ong reckons that there is scope for the share of foreign buying to increase further next year, with the opening of the two IRs.

Also, the completion of Phase One of Marina Bay Financial Centre will strengthen Singapore’s positioning as a global business centre.

‘When high networths buy, they talk about their investments to their clique of people. That can generate further interest in Sentosa Cove,’ she says.

Steven Ming, Savills director of investment sales & prestige homes, says that foreign buyers’ presence is a critical factor for prices of luxury homes in Singapore, including at Sentosa Cove.

He says: ‘If we look back, in 2006-2007 when foreigners were buying in Singapore, luxury prices ran up quite a bit.

‘At the start of this year, there was very little foreign interest in the Singapore property market and it was mostly the mass and mid-segments that were doing well.

‘In the past few months, however, foreign interest has returned and we’re seeing a pick-up in prices on Sentosa Cove.’

Source : Business Times – 7 Dec 2009