8 Shenton Way, Singapore
GM2021 Intelligence Section Lead for Singapore's tallest skyscraper, a 63-storey, 305-metre post-pandemic mixed-use tower setting a new standard for sustainable, health-first vertical communities.
This 63-storey mixed-use tower downtown is planned as one of Asia's most sustainable skyscrapers. It is a vertical community. It holds public spaces, offices, retail, a hotel and luxury homes, and rises 305 metres to become Singapore's tallest building. It is designed for the tropical climate and as one of the world's first post-pandemic mixed-use towers, so health and wellness drive the design. Terence led the GM 2021 Intelligence Section. Its recommendations cover the use of smart technologies and systems through design, construction, retrofit and operation. The aim is a fully integrated, automated, intelligent, responsive and aware building. The Intelligence section sets out the core principles of a smart building. The first is joining up systems, processes and technology. The second is collecting and analysing the data that matters, then acting on it to optimise energy and space, and to improve health, wellbeing and user experience.
Moving from GM 2015 to GM 2021 took more than a sustainability rating upgrade. It called for a whole new approach to building intelligence. Singapore's newest and most rigorous Green Mark standard called for a fully integrated, responsive building, where systems, data and people work together without friction. The task was to specify the intelligence framework for a 63-storey mixed-use development. Health and wellness had to be built into its structure, not added as a feature layer.
Led the GM 2021 Intelligence Section, covering the use of smart technology across the building's design, construction, retrofit and operating phases. The work applied the core smart building principles. It joined up ACMV, BMS, lighting, security and vertical mobility systems. It designed how data is gathered and analysed for energy, indoor air quality, space use and occupant wellbeing. It specified automated responses so the building adapts in real time to occupant behaviour, climate and energy demand. The recommendations were aligned with Singapore's post-pandemic health standards and the GM 2021 mandate for integrated, data-driven building performance.
The Intelligence section recommendations were delivered as part of the GM 2021 submission for Singapore's tallest skyscraper. A framework for joining up the smart systems was specified. It covers energy and space optimisation, health and wellbeing, and user experience. For a 63-storey, post-pandemic vertical community, building intelligence was decided at the brief stage.
- My role
- Led the GM 2021 Intelligence Section, Meinhardt Group
Designing intelligence into a building from the brief stage, rather than adding sensors after construction, is the same decision any business faces with new technology. The integration architecture must be specified before the infrastructure is built. A post-pandemic tenant expects the building to respond to health, comfort and energy needs on its own. That responsiveness comes from data architecture decisions made at the design stage. The same logic applies to any service environment you want to make intelligent.
The same diagnostic logic from deployments like this one, applied to your business in half a day.
Book the WorkshopDiscuss a similar programme- 8 Shenton Way: SOM (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill); 63-storey mixed-use tower; 305 metres; Singapore's tallest skyscraper
- BCA Green Mark 2021: Singapore's most rigorous sustainability and smart building standard for new developments
- Employer testimonial letter from Meinhardt SUIT Pte Ltd (Managing Director, July 2025) naming this project available to procurement teams on request; not published online
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Specifying intelligence for a post-pandemic tower means designing for a kind of trust that didn't really exist before 2020. Tenants now expect a building to respond to their health and comfort. Getting there for Singapore's tallest skyscraper meant pushing the intelligence requirements into the brief stage, before steel was ordered. That is a harder argument to win than it sounds. I'm glad that argument happened early. Retrofitting instinct into a 305-metre tower afterward would have cost far more.
