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It was realized, as early as in the 90s,
that Singapore would face potential
trac congestion in and out of the
Central Business District during peak
hours. To address this before it became
untenable, the Urban Redevelopment
Authority (URA) embarked on a plan
to decentralize commercial activities.
The economic development strategy
for Singapore in the 90's expanded
to encompass the service sector in
addition to the shift towards higher
value-add manufacturing, for instance
product design, software engineering
and other technology-based activities,
prompted a new zoning category
– Business Parks. Policy makers
went a step further to segregate the
development of business parks by
clustering industries, and growing
demand for lower-cost oce space
by financial institutions let to the the
development of Changi Business Park.
E¥orts by banks to rationalize their
real estate footprint has seen the CBP
evolve into a back-oce hub. Credit
Suisse, for example, consolidated
its back oces on the island into
One@Changi City, occupying close
to 200,000 sf. The area is currently
occupied by a number of other
banks, including DBS Bank, UBS,
JP Morgan, Standard Chartered
Bank, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ,
either in leased spaces or built-to-
suit buildings. Rents in CBP, at an
average of S$4.00 psf a month, are
more than half those in the island’s
CBD. And the park will continue to
evolve, with upcoming developments
that include the Singapore University
of Technology and Design (SUTD),
which completed the first phase of its
campus construction by 2014. Similar
to Silicon Valley, CBP is envisioned to
be an incubator for new industries and
enterprises emerging from SUTD.
Mapletree Business City (MBC) also
hosts a number of financial occupiers
in the development. Currently, about
a fifth of its tenants are from the
sector, such as Julius Bær, HSBC and
Credit Agricole. However, average
rents are close to S$6.00 psf a month
given its location on the city fringe.
The completion of MBC 2 in 2016 will
provide more options to occupiers.
45%
50%
55%
60%
65%
70%
75%
80%
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Rental Savings (%)
SUBURBAN BUSINESS PARKS VS CBD OFFICES
Note: Grade A oces
Source: Cushman & Wakefield
ONSHORING
Singapore: Suburban business parks
CHANGI BUSINESS PA
CBD
SINGAPORE
MAPLETREE BUSINESS CITY
34 ASIA PACIFIC BFSI OUTLOOK 2017