SINGAPORE: A new 500-room hotel with six floors of
retail space as well as office space will open in Orchard Road in
the second half of 2013.
Called orchardgateway, the development will straddle
the sites formerly occupied by Hotel Phoenix, Specialists Centre
and Orchard Emerald.
The two towers will be linked by a glass tubular
overhead bridge as well as an underpass across Orchard Road.
These plans were unveiled by OCBC Bank, Great Eastern Holdings and
United Engineers Limited who are jointly working on the
project.
The mall will offer 180,000 square feet of leasable space over six
floors including two basement floors while the 11-story office
building will yield about 3,500 square metres of gross floor
area.
United Engineers Limited (UEL) said a 18,000-square feet public
library will also open at orchardgateway in 2014.
The project has been awarded the Green Mark Platinum award for
sustainable developments.
UEL said some green features include the harnessing of bio-gas from
composting food waste for electricity production, implementing a
carpark guiding system that leads motorists to the nearest parking
lots to reduce exhaust gas emission, as well as installing
ultraviolet emitters in air-handling units to improve air quality
in the F&B areas.
These features will help to conserve 10,111,662 kilowatt-hour per
year (kWh/yr) of energy which is equivalent to Singapore's
electricity consumption for 2.2 hours and water savings of 579,211
m³/yr, or about 231 Olympic-size swimming pools.
- CNA/ck