Building around infrastructure

With the development of Crossrail, London is having to think more creatively about how stations and other developments can sit together comfortably in the middle of a city. For many denser Asian cities, it’s a conundrum they have dealt with for a long time. “They are far more advanced at building over and around infrastructure, and this process is often developer-led rather than infrastructure-led,” says Patrick Hayes, structural director of engineer Meinhardt. He cites One Raffles Quay (pictured) in Singapore as an example of this feat of ducking and weaving – a 150m-long subterranean mall runs beneath busy roads connecting the new scheme with the Ocean Building and Raffles Place station.

Smart cities

The region is making rapid strides in this field: consultant Juniper Research’s global ranking of smart cities last year was topped by Singapore, while Songdo in South Korea (above) claims to be the world’s first smart city. Consultant Frost & Sullivan estimates total spending in the Asia-Pacific on “internet of things” technology for networked objects was $10bn in 2014 and that it will reach $58bn by 2020. It also predicted that the region would be home to 10 smart cities by 2025. Singapore has already leveraged the technology to tackle areas such as waste management and overcrowding on public transport and has plans to roll out driverless buses on its roads by 2020.

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