Singapore's Kallang River-Bishan Ang Mo Kio Park Earns Excellence On Waterfront Honor Award

The CH2M HILL-designed project recognized for world-class waterfront design and development 

CH2M HILL a global full-service consulting, design, construction, and operations firm, is pleased to announce that Singapore’s Active Beautiful Clean (ABC) Waters Programme at Kallang River-Bishan Ang Mo Kio Park has received the Excellence on the Waterfront Honor Award, which is given to top-quality waterfront work around the world. The Excellence on the Waterfront Awards Program, initiated in 1987 by The Waterfront Center, is a distinguished international awards program supported with grants from the National Endowment for the Arts Design Arts Program and the National Marine Manufacturers Association. The awards were presented on September 28, 2012 in Washington, D.C., during the Waterfront Center’s 30th Annual International Conference, which was attended by award winners from around the world.

Kallang River at Bishan Ang Mo Kio Park has been transformed from a linear utilitarian concrete drainage channel into a meandering, natural river landscape. CH2M HILL partnered with Atelier Dreiseitl to create an integrated approach to waterway management for PUB’s ABC Waters Programme that incorporates engineering, science, landscape design, the behavioral framework of urban design, and a commitment to community involvement.

The Kallang River-Bishan Ang Mo Kio Park project transformed 3 kilometers of Singapore’s longest river from a concrete canal into a natural river with bioengineered slopes and landscaped banks. The new river teems with life, and has shown a 30% increase in biodiversity even before construction was completed. A first in the tropics, soil bioengineering techniques have been used to stabilize the river banks so that they can withstand strong flood flows and also provide habitats for flora and fauna. The flood plains provide generous open space for recreational activities, and in the case of a heavy down pour, the park functions like a real river plain, allowing the river water to spread and slowing the waters down through friction thus reducing the hydraulic overload of the river in more dense urban areas downstream.

The Excellence on the Waterfront Honor Award recognizes the innovation and industry leadership of this project, judging it on its sensitivity of the design to the water, quality and harmony of design, civic contribution, environmental values, cultural enrichment, and degree of difficulty in engineering, public participation, and permitting.

“CH2M HILL is honoured to receive this prestigious award. The ABC Waters Programme is a model for communities around the world looking at enhancing the environment and protecting water resources in a holistic, sustainable manner,” says Tan Ngo Chiaw, Director of CH2M HILL’s Water Business Group in Asia. “CH2M HILL has been helping Singaporeans improve their quality of living over the past fifteen years through its engagement with PUB’s ground-breaking infrastructure projects. Through these landmark projects in combination with the ABC Waters Programme, CH2M HILL and partners are proud to have been able to help Singapore meet its goals of cleaner waters around the island, a healthier environment for its citizens, and has enhanced the country’s reputation as a global water high-tech centre.”

The ABC Waters Programme is designed to ensure a sustainable future for Singapore by increasing the public’s understanding of the vital role waterways play in daily life, increasing native vegetation and fauna, improving the stormwater system, and greening the city to improve the environment. The ABC Waters Programme formally launched this approach in 2006 with 20 projects being initiated over the first five years from 2007-2012 and 100 targeted for by 2025.  A number of the ABC Waters Programme projects have been recognized by the industry, including the Alexandra Canal project that earned an Asia Pacific Regional International Water Association Project Innovation Award earlier this year.

Singapore has become a world leader in integrated urban water management, diversifying its water sources and using large scale urban rainwater harvesting for its drinking water supply. Singapore has also seen the integrated management of its water resources as an opportunity to upgrade the city civic space, creating new space for recreation, nature and community. Bishan Park is an inspiring example of how a city park can function as ecological infrastructure, a smart combination of water source, flood management, biodiversity and recreation.

About CH2M HILL
Headquartered near Denver, Colorado, USA, employee-owned CH2M HILL is a global leader in consulting, design, design-build, operations, and program management for government, civil, industrial and energy clients. The firm’s work is concentrated in the areas of water, transportation, environmental, energy, facilities and resources. With US$6.4B in revenue and 30,000 employees, CH2M HILL is an industry-leading program management, construction management and design firm, as ranked by Engineering News-Record and named a leader in sustainable engineering by Verdantix. The firm has been named a FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For five times and was named Water Company of the Year at the 2012 Global Water Awards. For more information, visit www.ch2mhill.com and www.ch2mhillblogs.com/water.