BACKGROUND

The $100 million Green Mark Incentive Scheme for Existing Buildings (GMIS-EB) scheme was first launched on 29 April 2009 which aims to encourage developers and/or building owners to adopt energy efficient retrofitting design, technologies and practices in their existing building to achieve a significant improvement in the building energy efficiency. BCA has enhanced this scheme which now provides:-

(a) A cash incentive for upgrading and retrofitting scheme that co-funds up to 50% (capped at $3 million) of the costs of supply and installation of energy efficient equipment and professional services to improve the energy efficiency of existing buildings.

(b) A 'health check' scheme, which is an energy audit to determine the efficiency of the air-conditioning plants. BCA will co-fund 50% of the cost for conducting this Health Check and the remaining 50% will have to be borne by the building owner.

EFFECTIVE DATE

The enhanced GMIS-EB is effective from the 26 July 2012 and will expire on the 28 April 2014 or when the GMIS-EB fund is fully disbursed, whichever earlier. Participation in the scheme will be on a first-come-first served basis, subject to availability of funds.

ELIGIBILITY

In general, the GMIS-EB is applicable to existing building owners if their building meets the following criteria:

• Existing private commercial (non-residential) developments.
• Minimum gross floor area of 2,000 sqm.
• Buildings must have central chilled water air-conditioning plants or which will be upgraded to have central chilled water air-conditioning plants.
• The energy improvement works shall include chiller replacement.
• Buildings must have attained a Green Mark rating which is still in its validity period preceding the application; or the Building owner must, at the time of application, have applied for Green Mark certification and the Green Mark assessment has not commenced or been completed, the Building owner must, at the time of application, be applying simultaneously for Green Mark certification in respect of the Building.

For the complete eligibility criteria for the Cash Incentive for Upgrading and Retrofitting scheme and the Health Check scheme, please refer to the respective application forms and guidelines.

For the Health Check scheme, the building owner must submit the application concurrently with the application for Green Mark certification.

All applications must be lodged before the start of the energy audit and energy-related upgrading/retrofitting works.

The scheme will not be applicable to buildings from the public sector as such projects have already being substantially funded by the government.

DETAILS OF THE CASH INCENTIVE FOR UPGRADING & RETROFITTING SCHEME

In order for the eligible buildings to qualify for this incentive, they must achieve at least BCA Green Mark Gold rating (based on Green Mark for Existing Non-Residential Buildings Version 3) and air-conditioning system efficiency of 0.7 kW/RT or better. The amount of co-funding for building owners will vary depending on the Green Mark rating and air-conditioning system efficiency that is achieved. The amount of co-funding rate and cap amount are shown in Table below.

The co-funding rates cover the cost of the supply and installation of the energy efficient equipment and professional services fees.

The cash incentives would be disbursed over 3 stages:

• The 1st disbursement is for the reimbursement of the professional services and will be given out upon applicants acceptance of the Letter of Offer for this scheme and upon Green Mark certification.
• The 2nd disbursement is 50% of the approved co-funding amount minus the 1st disbursement and will be given out upon completion of the energy retrofitting works and verification of the aircon system efficiency.
• The final disbursement will be the remaining 50% of the approved co-funding minus the 1st and 2nd disbursements and will be given out one year after the date of completion of the retrofitting works and upon verification of the aircon system efficiency achieved.

APPLICATION FORMS & GUIDELINES

To download the Application Forms and Guidelines:-

For more information, you may like to check out the Frequently Asked Questions.

For technical matters, please contact

• Mr Md Halim Anapi, Green Mark Dept (Existing Buildings) at email: md_halim_anapi@bca.gov.sg
• Ms Archana Balasubramaniam, Green Mark Dept (Existing Buildings) at email: archana_balasubramaniam@bca.gov.sg

For application matters, please contact

• Ms Wendy Li, Green Building Policy Dept at email: wendy_li@bca.gov.sg