Pro—family features may be made compulsory in some future
buildings
SINGAPORE: The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) may make
family—friendly features compulsory in some future buildings.
But it stressed the decision will be made only after careful
consultation with stakeholders.
The Authority gave a record 13 awards this year to buildings with
good design.
Tampines Primary School has set the standard for buildings with
good design features.
The school has pro—family facilities like changing rooms for
mothers with babies and shower stalls with flip—down seats for the
disabled.
Nazreen Osman has benefited from the school’s pro—family
facilities.
The 33—year—old mother of a newborn frequently uses the school’s
nursing rooms.
Mrs Osman says: It is really essential for me to have the space to
actually do my motherhood duties. And especially that it’s located
within the premises, within the staffroom, I can actually do my
teacher duty and at the same time do my motherhood duty."
It’s one reason why Tampines Primary is the first and only public
school so far to win a Gold award for Universal Design.
Universal Design refers to features that take into account the
needs of users of all abilities, including the elderly and
disabled.
The building design awards, in its fourth run, received a total of
35 nominations this year.
Buildings are given Gold, Silver, or Bronze awards based on
criteria like user—friendliness, safety and accessibility.
Cheong Yip Seng, chairman, awards assessment committee, BCA, says:
"I hope that in future, people who are providing such
infrastructure take into account the needs of the general public,
not just their own needs — how can their buildings, their facility
be made more user—friendly."
The school’s sports facilities are clearly a hit with students.
The interactive wall lets people of different physical abilities
take part in fun games. There are lights at different levels, and
you hit them to score points.
The school is also scoring points with the community as well, since
some facilities were recently made available for public use after
school hours.
— CNA/jy