Three days is all it takes for the facilities management team of the Singapore Sports Hub to capture and analyse thousands of inspection photos of the National Stadium. The same task would have taken two weeks in the past.

       Like how Singapore increasingly adopts smart technologies across a range of sectors, the team led by C&W Services – the facilities management and engineering arm of commercial real estate services company Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) – began to tap drones and artificial intelligence (AI) in 2018 for the Hub’s building facade inspections. This cut the time needed by 50 per cent to 70 per cent on average.

       Mr Lam Shiu Tong, C&W Services’ managing director for defence and sports facilities, says: “We used to send our rope access specialists up the facilities to try and detect any defects section by section. This was very laborious and we might even miss some.

       “Now, we can fly drones, take thousands of images that capture the entire facade, and use AI to pick out defects such as peeling sealant and rusted pins and trusses. We can then send our specialists to the exact locations to inspect further and rectify the issues as needed. The AI system can also generate the inspection reports much faster.”

       Learn how digital tools are transforming the facilities management scene in Singapore.

       Facilities management work focuses on areas such as maintenance, security and energy efficiency of buildings and infrastructures. While they ensure operational efficiency and safety, the work can be time-consuming as well as mentally and physically demanding.

       Besides the National Stadium, the Sports Hub includes facilities like the OCBC Aquatic Centre and Kallang Wave Mall, and receives nearly one million visitors every year, including up to tens of thousands of people at a time during concerts and major events.

       That is why Mr Lam’s 170-strong facilities management team, which includes technicians and engineers, needs to ensure all parts of the Hub are in pristine working order when it is showtime. These range from escalators and lifts, to even the National Stadium’s washrooms and retractable roof.

       With the adoption of new technology, facilities management staff can also switch to higher-value, less menial work. Take, for example, Mr Chua Meng Koon, who was first hired by C&W Services, to prepare reports and handle other administrative duties in 2023. With his supervisor’s encouragement, he completed a one-week course to obtain his drone pilot licence in July 2023.

       Now the licensed drone pilot is no longer just handling administrative duties; he also helps to oversee the facilities management team’s drone operations, including applying for permits and planning flight paths.

       Mr Chua, 39, also operates the drones to conduct the initial scans to spot areas of potential concern before his teammates zoom in to rectify the issues. The accuracy provided by drone imaging technology is close to 98 per cent. Such technology increases productivity and efficiency and also reduces the risk of working at heights.

       Analysing the images captured would have traditionally taken the drone pilot up to 50 work hours but the AI software that he uses to study the data and generate post-inspection reports has sped things up – reports can now be churned out in half a day.

       Mr Chua is also studying how to conduct 3D-mapping of the Sports Hub to unlock more opportunities to improve operational efficiencies, such as automating the drones’ work.

       “I’m very excited about what we could do. If you look at what Gardens by the Bay is doing, we could use drones equipped with hoses for facade cleaning, among other jobs. This would be more productive,” he says, explaining how the tourist attraction is employing drone technology to its advantage.

       Smart facilities management (FM) involves the integration of technology, people and processes to make better decisions based on data-driven insights.

       Some examples include automating security systems, using condition-based maintenance for elevators to prevent breakdowns, as well as monitoring energy usage in real time.

       Here are some benefits of adopting smart FM in your business:

       Enhanced user experience

       Improved efficiency

       Cost savings

       Stronger sustainability

       Other buildings and facilities have also integrated digitalisation in facilities management to raise productivity, ease workloads and attract talent. At City House, City Square Mall, Palais Renaissance and Republic Plaza, a monitoring platform called Digihub uses sensors and AI to check on building assets such as air handling units and pumps.

       Digihub’s AI analyses the sensors’ real-time data to keep tabs on the assets’ status, detect and predict potential abnormalities and faults in the building’s systems and other issues such as faulty air-conditioning units, and alert users to these so that they can deploy maintenance staff to attend to the situation on the ground.

       With the platform – developed by CBM, the facilities management subsidiary of property giant City Developments Limited which owns the four properties – employees like digital specialist Pang Zi Hao can keep an eye on all the building assets from a command centre, with alerts popping up on a digital dashboard if there are any issues that should be resolved.

       “The feedback we get from tenants is usually about cleaning, security as well as mechanical and electrical problems. Using Digihub’s analytics, we can quickly and easily flag such issues on our own and delegate staff to solve them. There is also more customer satisfaction in the building these days, based on tenant feedback,” Mr Pang says.

       By tracking the assets’ health, the platform also enables engineering managers like Mr Ivan Foo and technicians like Mr Salim Abu to embrace condition-based maintenance. They check and maintain the assets when the sensor data indicates the need, saving time and effort.

       Mr Foo, Republic Plaza’s facilities manager, explains: “We still do regular checks but not as frequently. For instance, for some items, we can move from daily to weekly physical checks. With this and other time savings, we can focus on higher-value work, such as thinking about and carrying out upgrades and other premise or system improvements.

       “Furthermore, before using Digihub, our maintenance operations relied heavily on paper checklists and records. Requests for repairs came in through phone calls and messages. This resulted in occasional delays, mistakes, inaccurate documentation and loss of records.”

       Digihub provides a real-time view and single touchpoint that is accessible to the facilities management team anywhere and any time.

       Mr Salim, who works on Republic Plaza’s mechanical and electrical systems, notes: “I can use the Digihub mobile application to acknowledge issues and feedback from tenants, update the work status after I look into and fix the problems, and automatically generate reports, all on the go without having to go back to the office. It’s very convenient.”

       Mr Pang adds that facilities management companies that invest in digitalisation are more appealing to potential hires. “Young people these days want to have cool jobs. With digitalisation, we can redesign old jobs and offer new ones such as smart facilities management or digital specialists. We can then get more people into the facilities management and built environment sectors.”

       With more to explore in the digital space, industry experts in Singapore are coming together to pool their resources and knowledge to push the boundaries of facilities management technologies to improve the way people work.

       Not only are the innovations aimed at improving productivity, but they also focus on boosting sustainability and well-being. The Smart Urban Co-Innovation Lab, seeded by CapitaLand Ascendas Reit, CapitaLand Investment, Enterprise Singapore and Infocomm Media Development Authority, is among those fostering such partnerships to break technological grounds.

       Launched in 2020, it connects firms so they can combine their expertise and technologies to overcome built environment challenges. Mr Aylwin Tan, CapitaLand Investment’s chief customer solutions officer and the lab’s director, says: “The technologies to upgrade facilities management are out there, and so are their potential users.

       “The problem is that it’s difficult for them to find each other, for someone with a problem to find the best solution. Technology buyers and sellers come to us so that we can help them discover each other, and work with them to develop, demonstrate and deploy solutions.”

       The lab’s collaboration with Changi General Hospital’s (CGH) Centre for Healthcare Assistive and Robotics Technologies (Chart) in October 2022 is one success story.

       At CGH, robots are used to support the hospital care team with tasks like cleaning and delivering meals. However, there were some challenges at first in getting different robot fleets to work smoothly with the building systems. Chart developed the Robotics Middleware for Healthcare (RoMi-H) platform in 2021 to address this.

       The platform allows robots to communicate with one another and infrastructure such as doors and lifts via standardised messages. This enables robots from different manufacturers to be seamlessly integrated in buildings.

       Says Mr Tan: “To share this development with the wider ecosystem, we also brought in global leaders in the automated doors, elevator and escalator industry, like dormakaba and Kone, as well as over 20 robotics vendors, to test and demonstrate the effectiveness of this solution.”

       With this, CGH has scaled up and deployed robots with multiple functionalities, such as cleaning, deliveries and surveillance. Other public healthcare institutions have adopted the RoMi-H platform too.

       For those looking at a career in built environment or hoping to upgrade their qualifications in facilities maintenance, there are certifications and courses available:

       Diploma

       Industry practitioners:

       Mid-careerist:

       Inventions that boost well-being are in line with the Building and Construction Authority’s Built Environment Industry Transformation Map, which promotes sustainable urban systems that contribute to a greener and more liveable built environment, among other goals.

       Mr Tan and the other facilities management professionals emphasise that smart systems, AI, digitalisation and automation are not fleeting trends. They are reshaping the facilities management sector and increasing precision, safety and productivity within the built environment industry.

       Such technologies, accompanied by upskilling, also build the workforce’s capabilities and resilience. Mr Lam explains: “We want our operations to be sustainable, in the sense that our staff can carry out their duties day in and day out for as long as they want. To achieve this, we must make their work less reliant on labour, and as efficient and productive as possible.”

       He adds: “A building’s design and construction take up maybe just five years of its lifespan, which can be up to 50 years or more. Its remaining life hinges on how it is used and maintained. This illustrates facilities management’s importance. If we manage buildings well, it will be better and more sustainable for the built environment, and for the country in the long run.”

       Building Singapore is a five-part series featuring the people behind the nation's built environment sector who are transforming the urban landscape. Get an inside look at how they are creating more liveable, sustainable and vibrant spaces for Singaporeans to live, work and play in. This feature is the last in the series.

       Find out more about the Built Environment sector here.