Suntec City

Design

Suntec City was designed by Tsao & McKown Architects with emphasis on Chinese feng shui. The five buildings and the convention center are arranged such that they resemble a left hand when viewed aerially, with the Fountain of Wealth as its palm. The fountain is made of bronze as the combination of bronze and water symbolizes prosperity. Furthermore, the specially selected Chinese name, 新达, means "new achievement".

History

On 17 December 1987, the Singapore government announced the building of an exhibition and convention centre in Marina Centre. The tender was put up by Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and closed on 16 August 1988. Three companies submitted bids for the tender: Suntec City Development Pte Ltd, a joint bid by Kuok Ltd, Shangri-La Hotel, and UOL Investment Holdings, and Sino International Real Estate Agency Ltd. Suntec City Development was headed by Suntec Investment, a Singapore based investment company formed in 1986, consisting of Hong Kong tycoons such as Run Run Shaw, Li Ka-shing and Frank Tsao. Kuok Ltd was headed by Robert Kuok, a Malaysian billionaire and businessman. Sino International Real Estate Agency was headed by Ng Teng Fong, a Singaporean real estate tycoon.

In December 1988, it was announced that Suntec City Development won the bid and it had to finish constructing the Convention and Exhibition Centre within four and a half years while the remaining office blocks in ten years.

In July 2024, a car fell into the fountain as a result of dangerous driving while the fountain was closed for maintenance. No serious injuries occurred and the man was evacuated to a hospital.

Areas

Suntec Convention and Exhibition Centre

The Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre was officially opened on 30 August 1995. In 2004, the convention centre was renamed as Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre as part of a rebranding exercise. The convention centre has a total of 100000 sqm of space, over multiple levels.

During the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics, the convention centre hosted the boxing, fencing, handball, judo, taekwondo, and wrestling competitions.

The building was renovated from October 2012 to June 2013. The 18th edition of Wikimania, Wikimedia Movement's largest annual event, was held here from 15-19 August 2023.

Suntec City Mall

The Suntec City Mall is a shopping centre located within Suntec City. Opened in 1994 together with initial phases of the Suntec City development, it was the largest shopping centre in Singapore with 888000 sqft of retail space until the opening of VivoCity in 2006. It also offers a club house called the Suntec City Guild House located on the fifth storey.

The large mall boasts some 360 outlets, with more than 100 Food and Beverage options, spread over 4 floors in an L-shaped configuration. To help shoppers to navigate around the mall, it was divided into four zones, namely:

• The West Wing, located on the lower floors of the Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre, offering high-end international labels targeted specifically at convention delegates and tourists. It reopened in June 2013.
• The North Wing includes high end tenants, and alfresco dining outlets.
• The Fountain Terrace is located around the Fountain of Wealth, and specialises in food and beverage outlets.
• The East Wing at the north-eastern end of the mall is dedicated to entertainment, technology and lifestyle related tenants.

Office towers

The office towers comprise five buildings named Towers One through Five with four containing 45 stories and one 18 stories. The latter has 28000 sqft of net lettable floor area on each floor while the 45-storey towers consist of floor plates ranging from 10000 to. In total, there are about 2.3 e6sqft of office space. Tower One to Four is 45-storey representing the 4 fingers and Tower 5 is 18-storey representing the thumb.

Suntec City Office Towers houses a number of foreign diplomatic/non-diplomatic missions that are resident in Singapore. the Embassy of Spain on the 39th floor of Tower 1, Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office on the 34th floor of Tower 2, the Embassy of Rwanda on the 14th floor of Tower 3, the Embassy of Chile on the 24th floor of Tower 3, the Embassy of Qatar on the 41st floor of Tower 3, and the Taiwan Trade Center on the 9th floor of Tower 4.

Accolades

Suntec City was awarded two FIABCI Prix d' Excellence awards for excellence in all aspects of real estate development (Overall winner and Commercial / Retail winner) in 1999. Suntec has claimed other prizes, including the 1998 Tourism Award from the Singapore Tourism Board.

References

References

1. Lam, Jenny. (23 October 1991). "A City in a hand". [[The Straits Times]].
2. Goh, Toh Hooi Daniel. "Suntec City".
3. Cua, Genevieve. (21 December 1987). "Thumbs-up for world-class exhibition centre". [[The Business Times (Singapore).
4. Lee, Han Shih. (2 June 1988). "HK tycoon may invest $320 million here". [[The Business Times (Singapore).
5. (17 August 1988). "Suntec submits highest bid for convention project". [[The Business Times (Singapore).
6. Lee, Han Shih. (7 January 1986). "Eight prominent Hongkong businessmen set up investment company". [[The Business Times (Singapore).
7. Lee, Han Shih. (2 December 1988). "HK group wins billion-dollar deal". [[The Business Times (Singapore).
8. "Man investigated for dangerous driving after car crashes into Suntec City's Fountain of Wealth".
9. (30 August 1995). "SPEECH BY MR. LEE KUAN YEW, SENIOR MINISTER AT GRAND OPENING OF THE SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION AND EXHIBITION CENTRE ON 30 AUGUST 1995". [[National Archives of Singapore]].
10. [http://singapore2010.sg/sports/venues/internationalconventioncentre] {{webarchive. link. (4 October 2009)
11. (4 August 2014). "Asia's MICE industry thrives in 2014 - Singapore Business Review". Singapore Business Review.
12. (30 April 2023). "Wikimania 2023 venue announced".
13. "Temporary designation of Suntec toilets as 'gender-neutral' sparks hostile online reaction; others see move as positive".
14. "Home".
15. "Welcome To - The International Real Estate Federation". Fiabci.com.
16. "Awards".