one-north’s conscious clustering

January 26, 2015 12:23 PM SGT

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SINGAPORE: Along Portsdown Road, past the futuristic glass buildings in Fusionopolis, the landscape gives way to the old colonial black-and-white bungalows and walk-up apartments of Wessex Estate.

Just off the road sits a non-descript wooden shed — the famous Colbar (an abbreviation for Colonial Bar), a popular café serving reasonably priced Hainanese-style Western fare and famous for its pork chops.

Opened 61 years ago as a canteen for the British Army camp at Portsdown, it was formerly located on Jalan Hang Jebat, just off Portsdown Avenue but was moved to its current premises on Whitchurch Road in 2003, and reopened a year later.

Despite the move, it has retained its 1950s look with brightly coloured two-tone timber walls, mosaic flooring, formica top wooden tables and enamelware.

The café serves as a reminder of Singapore’s colonial past, but more importantly, it is now part of one-north, an example of how policymakers have been able to create an ecosystem that attracts and fosters entrepreneurship, as well as draws some of the world’s biggest names and brains in R&D.

The 200ha one-north is located about a five-minute drive from Holland Village and a 10- to 15-minute drive from the CBD.

Fifteen years ago, it was envisioned to be a hub for R&D and high-tech activities in biomedical sciences, infocomm technology, media, science and engineering industries.

It underscores Singapore’s transformation towards a knowledge-based economy in the new millennium.

one-north was also a testbed for the worklive- play-and-learn concept as well as clustering of industries to create an enviroment that encourages interaction and the exchange of ideas.

There are now seven precincts at one-north, such as Biopolis (for companies involved in biomedical sciences and R&D work), Fusionopolis (for information and communications technology, and science & engineering cluster) and Mediapolis (for media companies).

Today, more than 150 leading companies and global institutions along with 13 worldclass public research institutes with a total of almost 25,000 employees are working in the area.

“This achievement bears testament to one-north’s success as a next-generation, worklive- play-learn hub,” according to JTC Corp, its master developer.

For example, Procter & Gamble recently opened its $250 million Singapore Innovation Centre in Biopolis, with 500 researchers.

Danish firm Vestas Wind Systems, a leading company in wind turbines has located its R&D hub for Asia in Fusionopolis.

Other multinational companies such as Lucasfilm Animation (housed in its award-winning Sandcrawler building), British animation and visual effects company Double Negative, Swiss pharmaceutical firm Norvatis and US pharmaceutical giant Merck have likewise established their operations in Biopolis and Fusionopolis.

Leadership training cluster The leafy area of Nepal Hill with its restored black-and-white bungalows has been positioned as a leadership training cluster and is now an important part of Singapore’s ambition to become a global city and talent hub.

INSEAD, Unilever’s Four Acres and European business school ESSEC have set up their Asia-Pacific campuses there.

Earlier this month, chemicals giant BASF opened its first Asia Pacific Learning Campus at Rochester Park 20, so named because it has 20 colonial black-and-white bungalows set amid the greenery of Rochester Park.

The area is also part of the leadership and training cluster.

one-north’s proximity to the Singapore Science Parks, the National University of Singapore, the National University Hospital, and the Singapore Polytechnic, has also resulted in the largest concentration of intellectual, research and scientific talent in Singapore, adds JTC.

Earlier this year, JTC launched its startup cluster, LaunchPad @ one-north to create a vibrant environment to attract up to 500 start-ups.

They are currently housed in Blk 71 Ayer Rajah Crescent, but next year will see the cluster expanding to another two neighbouring blocks which will officially open in early 2015.

Next year will also see the completion of the next two phases of Fusionopolis — Fusionopolis Two, developed by JTC, and Galaxis, a joint development by Ascendas Land and Mitsui & Co.

The two new phases will have a combined 1.72 million sq ft of R&D and business space as well as close to 54,000 sq ft of retail space.

A revamp of Fusionopolis One (the Connexis and Symbiosis towers) is also in the pipeline for 2015, which will involve the injection of more F&B outlets and amenities for the community.

The cluster around the North Buona Vista MRT station is called Vista, where The Metropolis, the first Grade A office towers in the area, has sprung up adjacent to the headquarters of the Ministry of Education.

In the vicinity are The Star Vista Mall and The Star Performing Arts Centre, as well as The Rochester, a mixed-use development, with private residential property, hotel, serviced apartments and a retail podium.

For MNCs, the central location, direct access to the Buona Vista and one-north MRT stations as well as the presence of a major shopping mall are some of the key reasons for moving to the area, says Chris Archibold, international director and head of markets at JLL.

The two office blocks at The Metropolis by developer Ho Bee Land contain more than a million sq ft of Grade A office space.

It is about 95% leased a year after its completion in 3Q2013.

MNCs located there include Boston Scientific, Procter & Gamble, Neptune Orient Lines and General Electric.

Cost savings Another attraction for MNCs is cost savings.

While monthly rents of Grade A office space in the CBD core are currently hovering at $11 to $13 psf, at one-north, Grade A office rents at Metropolis are at $7.50 psf, notes JLL’s Archibold.

They are slightly lower in the business park space at one-north, ranging from $5.50 to $6.50 psf.

In comparison, Grade A office space in Jurong Gateway is already in the $6 to $6.50 psf range, while business park space is between $4 and $4.50 psf.

Business parks such as Changi Business Park, International Business Park and Science Park will always be more attractive from a rental point of view as they are in outlying areas, where land is intrinsically cheaper, explains JLL’s Archibold.

Jurong Gateway benefits from its proximity to retail facilities such as JEM, Westgate Mall, IMM and JCube as well as the upcoming Big Box.

On the other hand, Raffles Place and the Marina Bay area are still the most prestigious in terms of location.

“Meanwhile, one-north sits right in the middle,” says Archibold.

“It offers reasonably priced rents, is relatively well located and has good amenities.” The residential component has also not been forgotten.

Beyond the black-and-white colonial bungalows and walk-up apartments in Wessex, one-north has also seen the development of two new build private condominium projects.

One was One-North Residences by UOL Group, Kheng Leong and Low Kheng Huat, which was launched in April 2007 at an average price of $900 psf, and fully sold within a few months.

The 405-unit, 99-year leasehold condo was completed in 2009.

Based on the three most recent transactions at One-North Residences from August to October, prices are now hovering at $1,311 to $1,548 psf.

Asking rents of apartments today range from $3,400 a month for a one-bedroom apartment to $6,000 for a two-bedroom unit.

In August 2007, United Engineers Ltd launched its 366-unit residential block at The Rochester at an average price of $1,300 psf just four months after One-North Residences’ launch.

Units in the development changed hands in resales at $1,442 psf and $1,555 psf in October and November respectively, according to caveats lodged with URA Realis.

There are also hotel and serviced apartments within one-north, such as Fraser Place Fusionopolis by Fraser Hospitality and The Rochester Park Avenue.

JTC is also constantly enhancing one-north’s infrastructure.

For example, it is providing covered pedestrian linkways between buildings, more directional signs for motorists and a Parking Guidance System at Biopolis and Fusionopolis to display the availability of parking lots.

“one-north is a very successful business park,” says Archibold.

“To draw people to an area, the place needs to have retail, F&B, entertainment and leisure components.

And one-north has all those elements in place.”

This article appeared in the City & Country of Issue 658 (Dec 29) of The Edge Singapore.

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