Tengah BTO flats to feature beamless design as part of trial

A beamless flat design will be trialled in two Build-To-Order (BTO) projects in Tengah which will be launched in November.

- Isabelle Liew

This will give residents greater flexibility to configure the layout of their flat, compared with current Housing Board flats where the structural beams remain when the walls are hacked.

The beamless flats are enabled by a hybrid system that uses both 2D and 3D precast components, and where units can be built using a structural system that allows concrete slabs to directly rest on a column. Currently, beams are needed to connect fully 3D precast components.

The move, announced by National Development Minister Desmond Lee at the HDB Awards Ceremony at Resorts World Convention Centre on Tuesday, is part of the board's Construction Transformation Project, which will pilot technologies and innovations to raise building productivity by 25 percent at the Garden Waterfront I&IIBTO projects in Tengah.

Mr. Lee said: "It will also seek to break new ground with the use of sustainable construction methods."

These efforts are in line with HDB's new target of 40 percent construction productivity improvement by 2030, which means a larger amount of floor area is completed per man-day. It had reached its previous target of a 25 percent increase by 2020.