Marina Bay Financial Centre

 

Over the space of ten years, Marina Bay Financial Centre in Singapore has literally risen from the seabed. For this masterpiece of sustainable design, Kaba has provided a very robust solution in building security.

Marina Bay is not just any old quarter in any old city. It is the most modern quarter of one of the world’s most exciting cities – the new face of Singapore. And at its heart is the recently completed financial complex, with its three towers, designed with sustainability in mind, gleaming impressively in the sunlight. In these monuments to “green architecture”, Kaba was responsible for installing the access control solutions.

Construction work on the site began back in the 1970s. The town planners had come to realize that Singapore would sooner or later burst at the seams, as the city state is built on its own island and cannot expand outwards at will like other cities. The authorities therefore decided on a radical solution: they forged new land from the seabed

  MBFC (Success Stories)

MBFC 2 (Success Stories)

MBFC 3 (Success Stories)

bordering Singapore. Thousands of cubic meters of rock, sand and earth were slowly piled up. Gradually and almost imperceptibly, the water gave way to newly created building land. The foundation stone for Marina Bay had been laid.

A district of record-breaking proportions
Anyone who takes a tour round this part of town today will see immediately what is meant by this. In fact, two world records can be found in Marina Bay. The floating stadium is the largest anywhere on Earth. This huge steel edifice played host to the Youth Olympic Games in 2010, and is also the venue for the National Day Parade on 9 August each year. The second record is held by the Singapore Flyer, which, at 165 m, is the tallest Ferris wheel in the world. And those who prefer somewhat faster wheels have the Singapore Grand Prix to look forward to each September: the Formula 1 circuit runs straight through Marina Bay.

Amongst the outstanding landmarks of the new center of Singapore are the three towers of Marina Bay Financial Centre (MBFC). They were designed by world famous architectural practice Kohn Pedersen Fox. The towers provide a total of approx 3 million ft2 of top-class office space, 1 million ft2 of residential space offering 649 luxury apartments, and over 176,000 ft2 of space for retailers. The development has attracted major banks such as Standard Chartered, which has set up Asia’s largest trading room in the complex extending across 500,000 ft2. Wellington International Management Co. have also moved in, as well as law firm Baker + McKenzie.


Greener living
The three buildings combine aesthetics with environmental awareness. It was not for nothing that the office towers were awarded a Green Mark Gold for Marina Bay Suites, Marina Bay Residences and Commercial Towers 1 and 2, while Commercial Tower 3 received a Green Mark Gold Plus for sustainable design from Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority. The Marina Bay Residences and Commercial Towers 1 and 2 were further awarded with the BCA Design and Engineering Safety Excellence. To receive these awards, a building must meet criteria in terms of energy and water efficiency, protection of the environment, optimal internal design and other green and innovative features. For instance, all the water taps are fitted with water-saving devices. In terms of electricity, too, the builders placed the emphasis on sustainability. Power generated from solar collectors is transmitted right to the lowest floors through outsized fiber optic cables. This saves energy from other resources. The roofs are also designed as space for people, creating a green oasis in the midst of the metropolis. Raffles Quay Asset Management is responsible for the management, security and upkeep of the MBFC buildings. Modern round-the-clock security systems like CCTV at all main entrances, along with card-based access control at the turnstiles in the elevator area, ensure proper security for tenants and staff.

Belts and braces
Kaba Singapore was commissioned to install the master key system based on quattro pluS cylinders in all three towers. This solution is particularly well suited to systems with large locking plans. The keys have both a mechanical element and an electronic verification component. This means that a chip is fitted into the top of the key which checks user authorization when the key is inserted into a lock. If a user has had their access authorization withdrawn, the key will no longer work –
the electronic component overrides the mechanical element.

Further, Argus HSB-02 sensor barriers with third-party badge readers provide for secure access to the building through ten lanes in Tower 1 and twelve lanes in Tower 2. The solution installed enables the facilities management team to secure the premises round the clock whilst giving visitors and tenants ease of access.

An important advantage of both systems is that the facilities management staff can inspect all access rights with a few clicks of the mouse and amend them quickly and easily on their PC. If, for instance, a member of staff loses their badge, it can be blocked immediately on the computer by facilities management and the member of staff will be given a new badge loaded with their access rights. Kaba Singapore recently has been awarded for the second phase of MBFC.