What we delivered

  • Provided multidisciplinary services for this 3.9 Ha mixed-use development that integrates biophilic design

  • Engineered a direct connection between the retail mall and underground MRT station for easy public transport access

  • Designed solutions to reduce solar heat gain and overall cooling load and optimised the thermal performance of the building envelope

Services used
Civil engineering / Ground engineering and hydrogeology / Structural engineering / Transport consulting

Get in touch with our team

Paya Lebar Quarter (PLQ) is a mixed-use development located in the east of Singapore and is part of the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s decentralisation plan – to reduce peak hour city-centre traffic congestion and bring jobs and services closer to home. The hub integrates commercial, retail, residential and parkland components into a single tapestry. The retail mall is directly connected to the underground Paya Lebar Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) interchange station, linking commuters to the East-West Line and Circle Line rail networks.

Commissioned by Lendlease, we provided civil, structural, geotechnical, façade and fire engineering, transport and sustainability consulting, and lighting design services, working with our partners to realise this project in an extremely tight construction programme. We proposed solutions that helped reduce solar heat gain and overall cooling load, including optimising the thermal performance of the building envelope using shading devices and high-performance low-e Double Glazing Unit (DGU) glass.

The development has rejuvenated Paya Lebar Central and created a vibrant precinct for communities and businesses. Paya Lebar features 9,290 m2 of green public spaces, jogging and cycling paths and bicycle parking, which are integrated with Singapore’s wider Park Connection Network. Biophilic design through the integration of terraced rain gardens, blue-green cascade landscapes and a water fountain at the heart of the development, connects people to nature.

Connecting people to the MRT

PLQ is the only development in Paya Lebar that offers commuters direct underground access to the MRT from the mall. To create the direct connection, our multidisciplinary team collaborated to realise the 20m excavation, conducted close to existing MRT structures, and in ground conditions with thick marine clay.

We also designed a diaphragm wall with a soil improvement layer and proposed a full top-down construction method to enhance productivity and accelerate construction time to meet the tight construction programme. We also proposed a design to omit steel strutting, recommending instead, to use permanent structures as strutting. This reduced the costs and minimised the movement of the wall and the impact on the adjacent MRT station.

Placemaking under the canopy

The plaza is a social, alfresco setting for people to enjoy food, drinks and activities. Beneath the surface of this plaza is a canal, which had been transformed from a 12m open channel to a 25-metre-wide closed and covered box canal with a new drainage system. The new canal was designed with structural systems that were efficient to construct within the fast-tracked programme.

This all-weather outdoor space is sheltered by an Ethylene Tetra Flouro Ethylene canopy, which we helped shape, along with the unique armadillo-like façade of the mall that gives the retail building its distinctive identity.

Across the development, our lighting designs also accentuate the architecture and inject vibrancy to this next-generation hub to live, work, shop and play.

PLQ’s plaza is a large outdoor area with canopy

Creating a sustainable precinct

PLQ offers a biophilic landscape integrated with terraced rain gardens, blue-green cascade landscapes and a water fountain at the heart of the public realm, connecting people to the development’s urban park and greenery. The public realm is interwoven with the wider Park Connector Network in the Paya Lebar precinct, and features cycling and walking paths as well as end-of-trip facilities, which encourage active mobility and alternative transportation modes.

We proposed solutions that helped reduce solar heat gain and overall cooling load, which translated to cost savings. We also helped to optimise and improve the thermal performance of the building envelope through the proposed use of shading devices and high-performance low-e Double Glazing Unit (DGU) glass. These measures, in addition to efficient water plant, air distribution, and lighting systems, improved the overall building performance by 30% more than similar code-compliant buildings.

Working closely with Lendlease, we worked on the pilot study that helped develop the revised Green Mark for New Non-Residential Buildings, launched in 2015. PLQ was later awarded Platinum, the highest accolade, for the BCA Green Mark for New Non-Residential Buildings NRB: 2015.

This updated certification for non-residential buildings recognises holistic sustainable measures that go beyond improvements to overall building performance to address occupants’ health and wellbeing. The residential component also received Platinum for the Green Mark for Residential Buildings.

Partners & collaborators

DP Architects