After carving out a niche in specialised buildings, Soilbuild Construction is making major moves in digitalisation and sustainability to boost growth. Its Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer Lim Han Ren explains.

 

When Lim Han Ren joined Soilbuild Construction in 2020, the company&rsquo s staid presentations to potential clients required significant improvements. &ldquo As we started to bid for jobs after the Covid-19 pandemic, I realised our traditional PowerPoint slides were losing the attention and interest of potential customers,&rdquo says Lim, the Singapore-based builder&rsquo s Executive Director and Group Chief Executive Officer. 

 

To address this issue, he worked with his team to begin using videos in such presentation during project tenders, with beautiful renderings of potential customers&rsquo proposed builds created using building information modelling (BIM) software. &ldquo With these video renderings, we can also highlight certain unique elements of the buildings to show that our team fully understood the tender brief. We immediately saw a lot more engagement.&rdquo

 

Since then, the company has forged ahead in digitalisation to further differentiate itself. When executing projects, it uses its BIM models during regular progress meetings to show customers a 3D perspective on how they can optimise their space. &ldquo They get a good and clear sense of their floor plate and can start planning how to fit out the space even before completion, saving time and resources.&rdquo  

 

With Soilbuild Construction targeting specialised building projects (such as low energy usage, cleanroom specifications, advanced manufacturing systems), its embrace of digitalisation has brought more of them on board. &ldquo Having such technologies makes us more attractive and impressive,&rdquo Lim explains. 

In June, it announced a S$647.5 million contract&ndash its largest to date &ndash to build port operator PSA&rsquo s Supply Chain Hub @ Tuas, which propelled the contract value of its order book to more than S$1.0 billion.

 

Coupled with its closing out of its pre-Covid contracts, the company has turned its fortunes around. Lim shares: &ldquo Raw material, labour and other costs surged after the Singapore economy reopened after the pandemic, hence we were incurring losses on pre-Covid contracts but it was necessary to honour our commitment to customers and delivery timeline, and inevitably our financial performance was affected.&rdquo

 

However, for the first half of the 2024 financial year, Soilbuild Construction has posted S$7.4 million in net profit and will handily surpass its S$7.3 million net profit for the 2023 financial year. &ldquo With our profitability, we have proposed dividends of 0.1 Singapore cents per share for the first half. In comparison, we declared and paid 0.1 Singapore cents per share for FY2023.&rdquo

 

Making a strength of sustainability 

 

For Lim, investing in sustainability is another priority and Soilbuild Construction has been an early adopter since 2008. He says: &ldquo Sustainability has always been more focused on the developer, on the building&rsquo s environmental-friendliness post-completion. Now, we are increasingly seeing that developers want builders that are sustainable in their construction too.&rdquo

 

Soilbuild Construction&rsquo s sustainability measures include substituting diesel generators with battery energy storage systems where possible, halving its diesel consumption recycling construction waste, for instance by turning timber formworks into storage racks for workers and using rainwater to wash vehicles and for general cleaning as well as energy generation with solar panels.

 

&ldquo We were one of the earlier builders to pay closer attention to sustainability, partly because some of the tenders we went in for had sustainability requirements. With these experiences, we have become more knowledgeable and adaptable in implementing such measures. I think this has served us well, and enables us to differentiate ourselves as a green builder.&rdquo

 

For example, Lim believes that the firm&rsquo s eco-minded practices and expertise played a part in its winning of the project of PSA&rsquo s Supply Chain Hub @ Tuas. The development will form part of the Tuas Port and is expected to achieve the Building and Construction Authority&rsquo s Green Mark Platinum Super Low Energy rating. 

 

The Singapore government has also said that it will take environmental sustainability criteria into consideration from this year when it assesses bids for large public construction projects with up to five per cent of the evaluation points for such criteria. &ldquo We have already built a niche for ourselves in the market by delivering specialised, high-spec, low energy usage industrial facilities. There are only a handful of players with the required capabilities to operate in this space. In addition to our commitment to excellence and safety, being sustainable will give us a stronger competitive edge,&rdquo Lim says.

 

Building more pipelines to growth

 

Lim credits his roundabout path to joining the family business &ndash his father co-founded Soilbuild in 1976, and is its Executive Chairman &ndash for his conviction that incorporating digitalisation and sustainability will benefit the firm. After graduating with a business degree, he worked for a private equity firm concentrating on Southeast Asia investments for three years, before entering Soilbuild Construction.

 

&ldquo I see it as a plus, not being from an engineering background. I was able to look at the business a bit differently, and see it through the lens of digitalisation and sustainability, how these could transform the business. That&rsquo s why, under my tenure, we have put in place these digitalisation initiatives and sustainability efforts, with more to come.&rdquo

 

The firm is also exploring the use of robotics. It has trialled robotic painters, and is considering the deployment of drones in faç ade inspections. &ldquo We also have CCTVs with artificial intelligence systems on all our tower cranes. These can detect high-risk activities on site and are linked to a group chat for our project leaders and safety officers on each project, so we can intervene infringements quickly.&rdquo  

 

Its BIM models can be put to more purposes. &ldquo Ultimately, we can develop them in a way that we can share with developers for facilities management. For example, you can put sensors on physical equipment and integrate the data in the BIM model to better track maintenance needs. This will save time and effort and make facilities management more efficient.&rdquo

 

Lim acknowledges that digitalisation and other changes can be hard. &ldquo We have some staff who were reluctant to learn new technologies.&rdquo He hired new employees excited about the digital improvements and paired them with the hold-outs to guide the latter through the upgrades. &ldquo After experiencing how the technology helps them in their work, they are more appreciative and show more willingness to learn the new technology.&rdquo

 

With long-term growth in mind, the firm is encouraging younger generations to join the built environment sector too, including by partnering tertiary institutions and offering scholarships to relevant programmes. &ldquo Construction is an important of the economy and there is a need to nurture the next generation of talent in the industry. As a builder for more than 48 years, Soilbuild Construction will continue to innovate and support the growth of this industry.&rdquo