2010 Award Winners

Home // About IES // IES Awards // IES Prestigious Engineering Achievement Awards // 2010 Award Winners

 

IES Prestigious Engineering Achievement Awards

313@Somerset
313@Somerset is an iconic project, located at Singapore’s premium retail belt, Orchard Road. Lend Lease Retail Investments 1 Pte. Ltd, who acquired the land from URA in Oct 2006, engaged Bovis Lend Lease Pte Ltd for this design and build project.

Civil & Structure Engineer Er. Wong Pui Fun Joanne of Meinhardt Infrastructure Pte Ltd undertook this project 3 years ago. The mall was opened to the public on 3rd December 2009, merely three years later. The project is unique that there are 4 major infrastructures integrated with the building. The existing 10 metres wide Stamford Canal with 600mm diameter NeWater main, 400mm diameter sewer line and Somerset MRT Entrance, are to be built-in with the building.

The design of this 7-storey shopping complex became an engineering challenge. 313@ Somerset had also won several Awards, namely BCA Design and Engineering Safety Excellence Award 2010, BCA Universal Design Award, BCA Green Mark Platinum Award.

 

Accelerated Project Management and System Integration for Integrated Resort at Sentosa
Since the successful opening of Singapore’s first Integrated Resorts (IR) from 20 January this year, the S$6.59 billion mega-resort is positioned to bring significant contributions to Singapore’s economy as well as its community.

ST Electronics is privileged to play a part in the timely and highly anticipated opening of Singapore’s first integrated resort, Resorts World Sentosa (RWS).

With the use of innovative technologies and solutions, ST Electronics has successfully surpassed unconventional project schedules to deliver a world-class solution that maximises the operational efficiency of Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) and at the same time delights guest experiences at the IR.

 

ST Electronics was awarded a S$92.8m contract by RWS to provide an Integrated Security System, an Information Technology (IT) Infrastructure System and a Carpark Guidance & Payment System to the IR.
The project was built in a record time of under three years from conceptualisation to realisation when the normal duration for a project of similar scale would take a much long period to complete.

Due to RWS’ fast-tracked target to complete in 2.5 years, ST Electronics’ project schedule was also highly compressed, resulting in the implementation being carried out concurrently with the resort’s construction activities.

To conquer the race against time, ST Electronics team initiated several innovative and coordinated approaches to ensure seamless integration of all sub-systems on a common infrastructure platform in time for the smooth opening of the IR.

 

Cancer Microfiltration Biochip – Harnessing cell mechanics to detect, isolate & retrieve rare circulating tumor cells from patient’s blood by NUS

Technological advances have brought significant improvements in diagnostic methods, surgical techniques, general patient care and enhanced therapeutic treatments. This in turn has positive impact on healthcare and can lead to improvement in the quality of life for patients. The need for better techniques in early cancer detection and diagnosis cannot be over-emphasised, given the increasing number of people suffering or dying from the disease as the population ages.

Predictions by the World Health Organisation put the fatality rate at 13.3 million lives by 2030 and new cancer incidences at over 21.3 million cases, which is almost double the rate today. New methodologies and devices which are more sensitive and convenient in the clinical setting are now all the more needed to better detect cancer so that they can be effectively treated at the very early stages.
 

Cancer cells can detach from the tumour and enter into blood circulation when cancer starts to spread and they are termed as circulating tumor cells (CTCs). Recent studies have shown that CTCs can be found in cancer patients with different metastatic carcinomas. Clinical studies also show that the number of CTCs found in patient’s blood can act as prognostic indicators for survival in breast, prostate and colon cancers. Thus, analysing patient blood specimens which are routinely taken can be useful and is less invasive comparing with traditional biopsies.
 

From an engineering perspective, the technical challenge lies in the rarity of CTCs in peripheral blood. The task to detect these tumor cells is further complicated by the heterogeneity of the disease. Here, we present a locally-developed and patented micro-fluidic device to isolate viable CTCs from whole blood using solely the mechanical property differences of cancer cells from blood cells.

It is label-free (no need for biomarkers), as isolation is solely dependent on the differences in cancer cell deformability and size as compared to blood cells. We have achieved a single step enrichment process which maximises CTC yield and allows the isolation process to be tracked in real-time. These also ease operational procedures as complex preparatory steps are not necessary (as compared to current technique).

Furthermore, the system is versatile to handle the heterogeneity of the disease and can capture a wide range of cancer cells in terms of their size and deformability. Labelling or staining of the cells can then be performed in-situ on the biochip to identify the different cancer cells present. The small volume in the micro-device ensures minimal use of expensive reagents and a more sensitive detection. One important breakthrough of this biochip which set itself apart from current technique is that by reversing the flow, we are able to easily retrieve the cancer cells in their native state.

.

Zero Energy Building by BCA

The Zero Energy Building (ZEB), located within the BCA Academy, is retrofitted from an existing building, the first to be achieved in Singapore.

It is BCA’s flagship R&D project. The intent is to use ZEB as a test-bed for innovative building designs and energy efficient building solutions, especially for existing buildings. It is a collaborative effort between BCA, NUS and MOE, partially funded by the MND Research Fund and EDB’s Clean Energy Research Program.
 

Zero Energy refers to energy self-sufficiency without the need to tap on power supply from the grid at all. For energy scarce Singapore which is also devoid of natural resources, the success of ZEB in achieving this target is exciting and has tremendous implications on the way energy is used in Singapore for specific types of buildings.

 

Kim Chuan Depot – Parson Brinckerhoff Pte Ltd

Kim Chuan Depot (KCD) is the first underground depot in the world. It serves the planned Circle Line (CCL) and Eastern Region Line (ERL) that operate using fully automatic driverless train system. Trains for these two lines will be stabled and maintained in the KCD. KCD design was optimised as an underground depot with single-level of stabling that berths 70 trains.

The site is bounded to the south by Kim Chuan Road, to the north by Bartley Road Expressway (BRE) reserve which will ultimately be an elevated dual-lane highway constructed from east to west along the length of the depot. At the west of the depot is Upper Paya Lebar Road and to the east is Hougang Avenue 3. KCD is over 1km long in the east-west direction, approximate 150m wide at mid-point and over 20m below ground at track level.

It will undertake train system operation and related maintenance which includes all necessary stabling cleaning, maintenance, overhaul facilities, operation control centre, depot control centre, training facilities and storage areas for the vehicle fleet and associated railway system. The main workshop area is the focus of the maintenance activities within the Depot while the train stabling areas occupy a large portion of the Depot.

Trains from the CCL enter/leave the depot at the west end. Trains from the ERL enter/leave the depot at the east end. The depot is accessed by a branch line of track-works, some one kilometer in length, which can be controlled directly from the depot control centre to as far as the depot boundaries.

 

Membrane Science and Technologies for Sustainability in Energy and Water and for Better Quality Life by NUS

Unusual climate change, rapid industrial growth, fast development of mega-size cities and severe flooding and drought resulting from nature disasters have intensified the search for clean water in ASEAN countries.

In addition, the water borne diseases such as cholera and malaria are prevailing in many tropic countries and affecting public health. Therefore, there is a tremendous need to have technology breakthroughs that can (i) recycle water, (ii) desalinate seawater and (iii) remove impurities, heavy metals, bacteria and viruses from drinking water in order to protect citizens in tropic countries.

Energy is also a major concern in ASEAN countries due to resource depletion and highly fluctuating oil prices. Among many energy alternatives, hydrogen, natural gas and biofuel are the three strategically important sustainable fuel sources for the foreseeable future. In some ASEAN countries such as Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, natural gas, coal and biomass are their natural resources.

However, to effectively use these natural resources, one must (i) remove impurity such as CO2 from natural gas, (ii) separate hydrogen from the steam reforming reactions, and (3) concentrate biofuel from fermentation broths.
 

Tremendous efforts have been put forth by Prof Chung to solve these pressing issues via fundamental research on membrane science and technologies. Depending on pore size and inherent membrane characteristics such as interstitial space between polymer chains, permeability, selectivity, chemical stability, hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity, membranes can be specifically designed to cater to the needs of a wide spectrum of applications.

 

FoodWaste to Renewable Energy Grid GonnectedPower Project – IUT Global

IUT Singapore Pte Ltd is operating Singapore’s and the region’s first of its kind food waste bio-methanisation and renewable energy plant at Tuas, Singapore, using its own technology patented by its founders. At full capacity, the plant will recycle more than half of Singapore’s food waste currently being disposed at local incineration plants. By producing bio-gas for power generation this plant is displacing conventional fossil fuel based power generation.

The plant is the first and currently the only small-scale renewable energy generation facility that is exporting clean power into the Singapore power grid. In addition, the plant also produces nutrient rich bio-compost as a by-product which effectively recycles carbon back into mother earth as an organic fertilizer.. This project in its totality is assisting Singapore achieve sustainable development and will reduce its carbon foot print.

In the absence of regulations for the separate collection and treatment of food waste, the plant had to be designed and equipped with a robust pre-treatment system to separate the inorganic from organic materials. In order to collect food waste that has as little inorganic contamination as possible, commercial and industrial establishments were approached to do their part in the segregation of food waste.

The food waste recycling plant is currently treating food waste produced from industrial, commercial and institutional premises such as shopping centres, hotels, food manufacturers, markets, hospitals and institutions of higher learning. The plant is also designed to be odour-free operating at negative pressure and applying scrubbers to treat all noxious gases produced by the various processes in the plant.

The first phase of the plant has a food waste treatment capacity of 300 tons/day with power generation capability of 3-4MW. Upon full implementation, total treatment capacity shall be 800 tons/day with power generation capability of up to 10MW. When this is achieved, carbon emissions totalling 38,993 tons of CO2 equivalent would be mitigated annually.

The plant and its operations will also be managed and operated meeting ISO 14000 and ISO 18000 standards by end 2010.

 

 
 

A post shared by The Inst. of Engineers, SG (@engineerssg) on