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Developers planning to launch new buildings or redevelop existing ones will soon be required to submit a Walking and Cycling Plan (WCP), showing how the design of their project will facilitate the needs of pedestrians, cyclists and non-motorists.
“The WCP will be required of developers from July 2016, and will apply for a start, to commercial developments, such as shopping complexes, offices, business parks, as well as schools, where we expect high pedestrian and cyclist traffic,” said a press release jointly issued by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).
“This is part of the government’s efforts to realise the Walk Cycle Ride SG vision, to make walking, cycling and riding public transport a way of life for Singaporeans,” they added.
In their WCPs, developers need to outline their plans to meet the safety and convenience of pedestrians and cyclists, as well as improve their accessibility to the development.
Aside from connecting the walking and cycling routes with key transport nodes, these companies would be required to install covered walkways or linkways, along with safe pedestrian and cyclist crossings.
They must also provide facilities for cyclists, like bicycle parking space, shower rooms and lockers, while vehicular lanes should be located away from the pedestrian and biking routes.
According to Christine Li, Cushman & Wakefield’s Research Director for Singapore, the WCP will compel developers to change their building designs and layout to accommodate the growing number of cyclists and people travelling on foot or other forms of light personal mobility devices.
“This will also mean that the generous provision of carpark lots in any commercial building will be a thing of the past, even though generous car parking allocation is one of the key requirements for tenants of any commercial building.”
Under the current rules, developers need to allocate a minimum amount of vehicle parking space depending on the area of their commercial development.
For instance, office buildings in zone 1, 2 and 3 must have one car parking lot per 450 sqm, 250 sqm and 200 sqm respectively. Shops and department stores in the aforementioned zones are also required to have one carpark space per 400 sqm, 200 sqm and 150 sqm.
But due to the WCP requirement, the aforementioned standards could be reduced by around 20 to 30 percent in the next 1 to 3 years, Cushman & Wakefield noted.
Furthermore, Li added that developers may need to allocate additional Gross Floor Area (GFA) for facilities that can be freely be used by the public – such as shower areas, lockers and changing rooms – which cannot be exempted from the computation of the maximum GFA under the existing guidelines.
“Perhaps, this could be tweaked to give more incentives to the developers to incorporate these complementary facilities,” she said.
Nikki De Guzman, Editor at CommercialGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email nikki@propertyguru.com.sg
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