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Full-steam ahead at Resorts World at Sentosa

What do you do when you are hired to build a world famous resort in a break-neck construction timetable of three years? P@SSPORT catches up with RWS' man-in-the-action, Michael Chin.

Just last month, one week after site workers celebrated the finish of their latest project with a barbeque, Resorts World at Sentosa (RWS) moved into its spanking new office on the island. Consisting of two wings, the 6,000 sqm building sports a façade with contrasting pastel hues and bubble windows, a signature whimsical stroke of American architectural icon Michael Graves.

The five-storey block also houses a landscape courtyard, a gym and an employee lounge. The building took four months to rise from flat ground, making it one of the fastest construction events ever to take place in Singapore.

Such is the speed of works at RWS: Seven months after winning the award to build one of Singapore's two Integrated Resorts, it has handed out over S$430 million in construction contracts. Works contracted range from road diversion works, land reclamation and a substructure basement that holds 4,000 parking lots.

"The next batch of contracts for the building above ground will go out in the last three months of the year", said Mr Chin, RWS SENIOR DIRECTOR for projects. By early next year, super structure works should be in full swing.

On the 49 ha site, workers of three different contractors now work side-by-side. "The progress has been favourable," said Mr Chin. "We are keeping to schedule and we should see the first concrete casting before end-July."

Partners ranging from DP Architects to engineers and site-workers have been cranking up the tempo to march in step, leaving "unforeseen" events as the only potential stumbling blocks. "The crunch on workers, building materials and the ambitious schedule are niggling worries but not insurmountable", he said.

There is no secret to getting the job done, he added. "Hard work, a hands-on approach and lots of motivating. We have to keep the team pushing in the right direction and to stay focused on delivery.

"Our workers will work on three shifts, round-the-clock, seven days a week. We are eager to get the Resort up and running in early 2010."

Construction will ramp up in the coming months. By mid 2008, visitors to Sentosa will see the progressive rise of the new destination. Up to 8,000 workers could be on-site at any one time during the peak period, which will be near the close of 2008.

Play in the green

The building of RWS has taken a green tack. Home to two heritage trees, the Resort has committed to keeping the level of natural lush greenscape at 70 per cent of its site.

Driven by conservation, RWS began moving 200 trees to a temporary nursery in June. More than 100 trees had already been moved and 700 more will be left untouched. The undertaking is the biggest tree conservation exercise by a commercial developer in Singapore. When the Resort is completed, these trees will return to provide visitors with shade, and add to the Resort's tropical ambience.

Of the trees that could not be saved, 300 are being recycled for timber. They will return to the Resort as furniture, souvenirs and construction structures. This makes RWS the first developer in Singapore to reuse its worksite's natural resources.

"Taking on the green mantle is like steering a bullet train and trying to grow shrubs along the way. Conservation has to be a decision taken early, in the planning stages, not after the concrete has set," Mr Chin said.

The team has drawn and re-drawn plans to preserve a 2.9 ha forest that has an owl roosting on its site, but RWS does not want to claim it is a green champion. "We will conserve when we can. We have to balance our priorities, but we will always make that effort," Mr Chin said.

Going forward

The RWS family has expanded rapidly in the past few months. The resort will hire 10,000 workers when it opens. It has filled 100 positions, divided between its projects and corporate sections. The current team is one with a "can do" bent, said Mr Chin. "We're all geared up to deliver a Resorts World at Sentosa that we can all be proud of."


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