As with many things in Singapore, it all began with a master plan. In 1979, the Jurong Town Corporation (JTC) unveiled a blueprint to develop a science complex aimed at advancing the nation’s research and development (R&D) efforts.
The Singapore Science Park (SSP), established in 1981, was designed to provide companies with the infrastructure needed for their R&D activities. However, it was the International Business Park (IBP), launched in 1992 by JTC, that is considered Singapore’s first true business park.
In 1997, JTC launched its second business park, Changi Business Park (CBP), alongside IBP. Both parks were designed to cater to companies in high-tech software development and R&D. Over time, financial institutions such as Citibank, DBS, Standard Chartered and UBS relocated some of their operations to CBP.
The Singapore Science Park was established in 1981 to offer companies the infrastructure needed for their research and development (Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)
Pushing for a knowledge-intensive economy
There was an urgent need to maintain Singapore’s economic competitiveness and hence a push towards a knowledge-intensive economy. one-north was designed to house these knowledge-intensive industries, such as biomedical sciences, infocommunications technology and media. It was envisioned as a vibrant work-live-play-learn research and business park with three distinct clusters — Biopolis, Fusionopolis and Mediapolis.
Cleantech Park (CTP) was the nation’s first eco-business park to foster R&D, test-bedding, and early adoption of sustainable technologies and solutions.
The Punggol Digital District (PDD) was created to capture opportunities in the digital economy, such as cybersecurity and digital technology. It is designed as a smart and sustainable district and facilitates the cross-fertilisation of ideas and collaborations between academia and industry.
The Punggol Digital District (PDD) was created to capture opportunities in the digital economy like cybersecurity and digital technology (Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)
Each of these business parks by JTC has its positioning and a mix of single and multi-user spaces. Rents for business park spaces were higher than the conventional light industrial spaces but lower than office spaces.
Companies have to fulfil strict criteria set by JTC before they are allowed to set up operations in the business parks. This is to prevent misuse of the attractively priced spaces by non-qualifying tenants. Mapletree Business City in Alexandra and ESR BizPark @ Chai Chee in Bedok were private-sector-developed business parks.
The International Business Park, established in 1992 by JTC, is recognised as Singapore’s first business park (Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)
What ails the business parks
The challenges facing business parks can be said to be structural and cyclical. Occupancy rates of business parks go with the ebb and flow of business conditions.
In the 2000 to 2001 period, business parks in the Jurong East, Queenstown and Tampines planning areas were more than 90% occupied. The occupancy rates then eased due to less rosy business conditions before picking up again to more than 90% in 2008.
Since then, the occupancy rate of business parks in Jurong East and Tampines has been on a downtrend. The occupancy rate of IBP in Jurong East dropped to its lowest level of 61.3% in 1Q2024. It has recovered slightly to 64.4% as of 4Q2024.
It was a similar fate for CBP. As of 4Q2024, the occupancy rate stood at 71.3%, 19.9 percentage points lower than its recent peak in 4Q2017.
This was probably due to companies rationalising and consolidating their space needs after the pandemic. Many of the operations in CBP were IT-related. With work-from-home (WFH) and the wave of tech layoffs, some companies choose not to renew some of their leases.
The WFH or work from anywhere meant that companies could decide to offshore their manpower needs in less costly locations instead of Singapore. IBM and UBS were among the companies reported to have reduced their footprint in CBP.
Business parks in the Queenstown planning area were more resilient, with more than 90% of their space occupied as of 4Q2024. This could be due to specialised spaces like labs in Biopolis.
While business parks used to have advantages like lower costs, corporate image and better specifications, that edge has been eroded over the past 20 years.
Some of these buildings in the business parks are showing their age and the design may not be suitable for some companies in the digital economy.
Newer B1 industrial buildings feature more appealing façades and project a stronger corporate image. Many now include chilled water systems and smart building management solutions, covering everything from visitor access to lifts. Some of these modern B1 buildings are located in prime areas, such as Tai Seng.
Business parks are now less appealing to companies than they once were. Technology giants such as Alibaba, ByteDance, iQiyi, Tencent and Trip.com have opted for office buildings in the CBD rather than setting up in business parks.
Mapletree Business City in Alexandra is a private-sector developed developed business park (Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)
Evolution of business parks
Are business parks less relevant than they were 40 years ago? The short answer is yes, but they are no less important. Business parks remain an essential offering in addition to conventional industrial land for marketing agencies like EDB in their investment promotion efforts to multinational enterprises.
Besides the above-mentioned business parks, Singapore has business park clusters planned at Bukit Merah, Sungei Kadut and Woodlands North.
However, in land-scarce Singapore, every piece of land must be put to its highest and best use. Leaving it empty for long periods is inefficient in managing scarce land resources.
Cleantech Park was Singapore’s first eco-business park, designed to support research and development, test-bedding and the early adoption of sustainable technologies and solutions (Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)
Redeveloping or rezoning
Some ways to spur more interest in business parks could be redevelopment incentives or rezoning.
The URA could consider adapting the CBD incentive scheme for business parks to spur the redevelopment of ageing business park buildings.
In return for higher development intensity, the developer will have to think of ways to increase the live-in population and vibrancy in the business park.
The first project in Mediapolis, Bloomsbury Residences, will begin sales bookings on April 12, with another project potentially launching in 2026 (Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)
Business parks like CBP, IBP and SSP are very much “dead” after business hours and on weekends, unlike one-north, which has commercial and residential uses. Almost all the F&B outlets in business parks are closed at night and on weekends. one-north also has two residential clusters in Fusionopolis and Mediapolis.
The residential projects in Fusionopolis — Blossoms by the Park, one-north Eden, one-north Residences, The Hill @ one-north and The Rochester Residences are well-received by buyers.
In Mediapolis, two parcels of residential land with commercial at the first storey have been sold. The first project in Mediapolis, Bloomsbury Residences, will conduct its sales booking on April 12. The other project may be launched in 2026.
There will be a first residential project, Lyndenwoods in SSP which is slated for launch in 2Q2025. CBP could take a leaf from one-north and SSP and explore rezoning a few land parcels opposite the Singapore University of Technology and Design for mixed residential and commercial developments.
It is still not too late to think of ways to adapt and evolve our business parks.
Lee Sze Teck is the senior director of data analytics at Huttons Asia
