SLA's chief executive Colin Low on creating unlimited spaces
How can Singapore's limited space be efficiently utilised to meet diverse needs? Colin Low, chief executive of Singapore Land Authority (SLA), gives AsiaOne a peek into how SLA works to optimise state land and properties, as well as its role as Singapore’s geospatial mapping agency and national land registration authority.
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00:00 What is the precious commodity that we have?
00:03 Actually, it's land.
00:05 It's space.
00:06 Describing SLA in four words,
00:16 when I came on board two years ago,
00:19 the vision of SLA is limited land, unlimited space.
00:23 And it's very apt for Singapore.
00:25 We are a very small country,
00:27 730 square kilometres, limited by land.
00:30 But it's really our imagination to see
00:32 what kind of spaces can be created
00:34 from the little land that we have.
00:36 And I thought that's a very interesting paradox.
00:39 And that's the vision that we continue to grow
00:42 or push ourselves within SLA,
00:44 to find what are the different uses or spaces that we have
00:48 in the little country that we have in Singapore.
00:50 It's about trying to fulfil different requirements,
00:53 trying to push ourselves to have unlimited imagination.
00:56 And I think what's more important is also that
00:58 not just for economic development,
01:00 but social and community purposes is really important as well.
01:04 And I think today we are here in 100 Henderson.
01:06 This is a very good living example
01:08 of how spaces can be created for different parts of life,
01:13 different pockets of the people that are living here
01:16 within the compound of 100 Henderson.
01:18 My name is Colin,
01:19 the Chief Executive of Singapore Land Authority, or SLA in short.
01:23 I joined in April 2021.
01:25 For myself, the call came.
01:27 I thought it was really interesting.
01:29 Why I say that?
01:30 Because if I juxtapose to the role that I have had prior to this,
01:35 I was running a REIT.
01:36 REIT stands for Real Estate Investment Trust.
01:39 And I was running a hospitality REIT.
01:41 So when the call came, I thought, "This is quite interesting."
01:44 I never thought about this.
01:46 I would never imagine being considered for the role.
01:49 But I thought that 20 years later,
01:52 if I look back now where a call came,
01:54 if I had this opportunity to work with wonderful colleagues within SLA
01:58 to hopefully have a hand in shaping how things are run across the country,
02:05 I think it's such an honour in that sense.
02:07 And that's why I responded.
02:09 Because I was from the private sector,
02:13 I brought my colleagues out to meet different people.
02:15 The F&B guys, the social spaces, the sustainability hub elements,
02:20 the tech people as well.
02:21 Go out into the market so much so that
02:24 the more you understand what the needs are on the ground,
02:27 the better you appreciate what is needed.
02:29 We started a series of brown bag lectures
02:33 where we get private sector folks to come in to talk to the SLA colleagues.
02:38 That gives my colleagues a different stance, a different sense
02:44 of what is happening on the ground.
02:46 In the F&B space, what's happening in Singapore?
02:49 What is the next big thing in Singapore?
02:52 So it's about bringing people together in different ways
02:56 beyond our kind of parameters on the box that we are in.
03:00 There are very much three verticals that we are doing within SLA.
03:07 The very first vertical is land and properties.
03:09 As the custodian of state properties across Singapore,
03:12 the role that we play is fairly crucial.
03:14 When there is land that is not used by economic agencies
03:19 or other public sector agencies like for schools, for army camps and so on and so forth,
03:24 or when leases expire, these properties come back to us, the state.
03:28 And if there are no immediate redevelopment plans by the URA,
03:33 Urban Redevelopment Authority, then that's where SLA comes in.
03:36 The role that we play for land and properties is to see how best to optimise those spaces.
03:42 Again, not for economic use, but social and community purpose.
03:45 So we actually divide this space into three different spaces.
03:49 Childcare, an elderly care, a dialysis centre,
03:53 and in the middle, as we have right now, which is a community farming,
03:58 rent a plot farming by City Sprouts.
04:00 And I think the model is very interesting.
04:02 We also have shop houses, we have disused school buildings,
04:06 we have got the iconic properties like Old Kallang Airport,
04:10 Pasir Pajang Power Station, the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station.
04:15 We are not solely economically driven.
04:19 I mentioned disused school buildings, and here we are right now,
04:23 100 Henderson, I think this is a prime example of how disused school buildings can be used.
04:29 The second vertical, which is more regulatory in nature,
04:33 we are the National Land and Property Registration Authority.
04:36 So if you have bought or sold a property in Singapore, be it residential or commercial,
04:41 we are the guarantor of caveats, and that's the regulatory role that SLA plays.
04:45 The third vertical that a lot of people may not know is that SLA is the Geospatial Agency of Singapore.
04:51 Geospatial, the word sounds very scientific, but actually it's really not.
04:56 It's all about location technology.
04:58 SLA has the various data, and then we provide this data framework or data bank,
05:04 in turn, to the other users, be it URA, when they try to plan Singapore in a different way.
05:10 A lot of people may not realise, we have actually a 3D,
05:14 a three-dimensional digital twin of Singapore created already.
05:17 You see the physical Singapore, you have a 3D digital twin.
05:20 The public sector agencies like the planners can look at a 3D version of Singapore
05:26 and think about how do you plan new town hubs or new buildings in a very creative way
05:33 that allows for better planning.
05:36 Thankfully, the various work stints that I've had in different industries,
05:49 be it in Singapore, in London where I was placed, getting like-minded people together.
05:54 In the destination that I have right now, you know, meeting different people from different walks of life,
05:59 how do you match needs together?
06:01 And the greatest joy, and then my colleagues will bear testimony to that as well,
06:05 is that when an idea gets birthed from the various connections that you have had,
06:11 that's what I find I get the most sense of satisfaction and enjoyment in birthing things.
06:17 Sometimes you never know what you're going to get. Some may fail, but never mind.
06:21 At least you know a friend, you have known something, you know what failed.
06:25 And the next time you try something, you take the learning points
06:29 and see how you can improvise further.
06:31 COVID has demonstrated that people are social creatures.
06:33 You need to come together and ideate and come up with things creatively.
06:37 So how can we look at space in more ways than one?
06:41 To me, as SLA Chief Executive, if we can do more of those kind of things,
06:45 getting community involvement, getting intergenerational interaction, I think that's what we're looking for.
06:51 [Music]
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