Despite facing construction challenges and a pandemic, Kay Lim Construction & Trading excelled in project management, ensuring the timely completion of the Forest Spring @ Yishun Housing Board (HDB) development.
When the home-grown firm inherited the Build-To-Order project, it effectively addressed any lingering construction issues, delivering high-quality workmanship without compromising schedules.
Overcoming challenges
Mr Alvin Tng, Kay Lim’s director, says: “We were committed to not just achieving HDB's goals but going above and beyond. We prioritised safety, quality, and innovation in our project management. By caring for our team and community and embracing innovative solutions, we completed the development while maintaining the highest safety and quality standards."
Traditionally, the residential blocks are built first, after which peripherals such as the carpark, environmental deck and landscaping follow. This process could take several years, which Kay Lim’s project team felt might delay key collection.
Instead, it decided to reinforce the carpark slab leading to the residential blocks, absorbing the additional cost of $240,000, to allow heavy construction vehicles to traverse back and forth. This way, the workers could concurrently build the blocks, the carpark and the environmental deck, instead of in separate stages.
The Kay Lim team also coordinated closely with their consultants to develop a natural ventilation solution for the carpark instead of a mechanical one, as all carparks need proper ventilation for smoke clearance in the event of a fire. By widening the air vents, carbon emissions would be lower as motors are not required.
Navigating a global pandemic
Soon after it took on the project, the Covid-19 crisis hit Singapore. Instead of worrying, Kay Lim got to prioritising. Firstly, it made sure to follow all the pandemic protocols, segregating its 500 workers and providing for their health, basic needs, fitness and even SIM cards for communication with their families and loved ones.
Having the foresight to anticipate possible supply issues due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the company paid its subcontractors upfront, including an acceleration cost to speed up works, to resolve their cash flow issues and to guarantee the continuance of works after the Covid-19 circuit breaker and two heightened alert phases.
Kay Lim then accelerated its digitalisation trials with QR codes for e-training and used a mobile app to facilitate safety and work progress inspections. This increased productivity by 20 per cent.
Excellent project management and communication within the firm’s other project teams also meant it could reallocate additional manpower of almost 50 supervisors and workers from other sites during crunch time.
For its efforts, the firm won a Construction Award (Housing) at the HDB Awards 2023. The awards recognise architectural and engineering consultants and building contractors for projects that have demonstrated excellent design, engineering and construction.
Giving new meaning to the Home Improvement Programme
Another winning project for Kay Lim is the design and build of upgrading projects in Yishun and Woodlands. The home-grown firm nipped and tucked a total of 26 blocks and 1,896 units as part of the Home Improvement Programme (HIP).
Launched in 2007, the HIP looks into common maintenance problems of ageing HDB flats.
Also undertaken during the pandemic, the project manager and his team had to resolve a technical issue – the installation of new clothes drying racks. The presence of a canopy roof on the first-floor units made it difficult for Kay Lim’s workers to do this.
To work around the problem, the team devised a new installation method by constructing a concrete support to mount the rack on, which took almost a month to complete.
Adding to the timeline was also goodwill assistance that Kay Lim rendered to flat owners who needed simple repair work.
Mr Tng sheds light on what he calls a “win-win” situation by saying: “It was important for us to transform HIP into a Happy Improvement Programme because going above and beyond to help residents with our expertise ultimately led to increased productivity for us as works could proceed smoothly, and also put a smile on people’s faces.”
Again, Kay Lim delivered yet another quality project and clinched the HDB Construction Award (Upgrading) – a well-deserved accolade to add to its stellar track record.
Other recent awards Kay Lim has won include the Building and Construction Authority’s Construction Quality Assessment System (Conquas) Star for good construction quality and the Workplace Safety & Health (WSH) Council’s Safety and Health Award Recognition for the Forest Spring @ Yishun project from 2020 to 2022.
“It is an honour to receive recognition for our efforts with the HDB Awards, and it reaffirms our belief that when resilience meets innovation, there's no challenge Kay Lim cannot conquer,” says Mr Tng.
Discover additional insights about Kay Lim and its award-winning capabilities. Also, find out more on how HDB homes are being built to serve different needs and lifestyles here.
