How can Singapore's limited space be efficiently utilised to meet diverse needs? Colin Low, chief executive of Singapore Land Authority (SLA), gives AsiaOne a peek into how SLA works to optimise state land and properties, as well as its role as Singapore’s geospatial mapping agency and national land registration authority.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 What is the precious commodity that we have?
00:03 Actually, it's land.
00:05 It's space.
00:06 Describing SLA in four words,
00:16 when I came on board two years ago,
00:19 the vision of SLA is limited land, unlimited space.
00:23 And it's very apt for Singapore.
00:25 We are a very small country,
00:27 730 square kilometres, limited by land.
00:30 But it's really our imagination to see
00:32 what kind of spaces can be created
00:34 from the little land that we have.
00:36 And I thought that's a very interesting paradox.
00:39 And that's the vision that we continue to grow
00:42 or push ourselves within SLA,
00:44 to find what are the different uses or spaces that we have
00:48 in the little country that we have in Singapore.
00:50 It's about trying to fulfil different requirements,
00:53 trying to push ourselves to have unlimited imagination.
00:56 And I think what's more important is also that
00:58 not just for economic development,
01:00 but social and community purposes is really important as well.
01:04 And I think today we are here in 100 Henderson.
01:06 This is a very good living example
01:08 of how spaces can be created for different parts of life,
01:13 different pockets of the people that are living here
01:16 within the compound of 100 Henderson.
01:18 My name is Colin,
01:19 the Chief Executive of Singapore Land Authority, or SLA in short.
01:23 I joined in April 2021.
01:25 For myself, the call came.
01:27 I thought it was really interesting.
01:29 Why I say that?
01:30 Because if I juxtapose to the role that I have had prior to this,
01:35 I was running a REIT.
01:36 REIT stands for Real Estate Investment Trust.
01:39 And I was running a hospitality REIT.
01:41 So when the call came, I thought, "This is quite interesting."
01:44 I never thought about this.
01:46 I would never imagine being considered for the role.
01:49 But I thought that 20 years later,
01:52 if I look back now where a call came,
01:54 if I had this opportunity to work with wonderful colleagues within SLA
01:58 to hopefully have a hand in shaping how things are run across the country,
02:05 I think it's such an honour in that sense.
02:07 And that's why I responded.
02:09 Because I was from the private sector,
02:13 I brought my colleagues out to meet different people.
02:15 The F&B guys, the social spaces, the sustainability hub elements,
02:20 the tech people as well.
02:21 Go out into the market so much so that
02:24 the more you understand what the needs are on the ground,
02:27 the better you appreciate what is needed.
02:29 We started a series of brown bag lectures
02:33 where we get private sector folks to come in to talk to the SLA colleagues.
02:38 That gives my colleagues a different stance, a different sense
02:44 of what is happening on the ground.
02:46 In the F&B space, what's happening in Singapore?
02:49 What is the next big thing in Singapore?
02:52 So it's about bringing people together in different ways
02:56 beyond our kind of parameters on the box that we are in.
03:00 There are very much three verticals that we are doing within SLA.
03:07 The very first vertical is land and properties.
03:09 As the custodian of state properties across Singapore,
03:12 the role that we play is fairly crucial.
03:14 When there is land that is not used by economic agencies
03:19 or other public sector agencies like for schools, for army camps and so on and so forth,
03:24 or when leases expire, these properties come back to us, the state.
03:28 And if there are no immediate redevelopment plans by the URA,
03:33 Urban Redevelopment Authority, then that's where SLA comes in.
03:36 The role that we play for land and properties is to see how best to optimise those spaces.
03:42 Again, not for economic use, but social and community purpose.
03:45 So we actually divide this space into three different spaces.
03:49 Childcare, an elderly care, a dialysis centre,
03:53 and in the middle, as we have right now, which is a community farming,
03:58 rent a plot farming by City Sprouts.
04:00 And I think the model is very interesting.
04:02 We also have shop houses, we have disused school buildings,
04:06 we have got the iconic properties like Old Kallang Airport,
04:10 Pasir Pajang Power Station, the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station.
04:15 We are not solely economically driven.
04:19 I mentioned disused school buildings, and here we are right now,
04:23 100 Henderson, I think this is a prime example of how disused school buildings can be used.
04:29 The second vertical, which is more regulatory in nature,
04:33 we are the National Land and Property Registration Authority.
04:36 So if you have bought or sold a property in Singapore, be it residential or commercial,
04:41 we are the guarantor of caveats, and that's the regulatory role that SLA plays.
04:45 The third vertical that a lot of people may not know is that SLA is the Geospatial Agency of Singapore.
04:51 Geospatial, the word sounds very scientific, but actually it's really not.
04:56 It's all about location technology.
04:58 SLA has the various data, and then we provide this data framework or data bank,
05:04 in turn, to the other users, be it URA, when they try to plan Singapore in a different way.
05:10 A lot of people may not realise, we have actually a 3D,
05:14 a three-dimensional digital twin of Singapore created already.
05:17 You see the physical Singapore, you have a 3D digital twin.
05:20 The public sector agencies like the planners can look at a 3D version of Singapore
05:26 and think about how do you plan new town hubs or new buildings in a very creative way
05:33 that allows for better planning.
05:36 Thankfully, the various work stints that I've had in different industries,
05:49 be it in Singapore, in London where I was placed, getting like-minded people together.
05:54 In the destination that I have right now, you know, meeting different people from different walks of life,
05:59 how do you match needs together?
06:01 And the greatest joy, and then my colleagues will bear testimony to that as well,
06:05 is that when an idea gets birthed from the various connections that you have had,
06:11 that's what I find I get the most sense of satisfaction and enjoyment in birthing things.
06:17 Sometimes you never know what you're going to get. Some may fail, but never mind.
06:21 At least you know a friend, you have known something, you know what failed.
06:25 And the next time you try something, you take the learning points
06:29 and see how you can improvise further.
06:31 COVID has demonstrated that people are social creatures.
06:33 You need to come together and ideate and come up with things creatively.
06:37 So how can we look at space in more ways than one?
06:41 To me, as SLA Chief Executive, if we can do more of those kind of things,
06:45 getting community involvement, getting intergenerational interaction, I think that's what we're looking for.
06:51 [Music]
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