HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

One Raffles Place is a skyscraper in
Downtown Core The Downtown Core is the historical and downtown centre of the city-state of Singapore and the main commercial area in Singapore excluding reclaimed lands with two integrated resorts such as the Marina Bay Sands, one of the most expensive buil ...
,
Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
. The development comprises two towers and a
podium A podium (: podiums or podia) is a platform used to raise something to a short distance above its surroundings. In architecture a building can rest on a large podium. Podiums can also be used to raise people, for instance the conductor of a ...
. The tall Tower One and the 38-storey Tower Two house offices, while the podium contains retail space. Initially conceived in the late 1970s as Overseas Union Bank Centre, the headquarters of Overseas Union Bank (OUB), work on the building began in 1981, while construction of the superstructure subsequently commenced in October 1984. Costing to build, OUB Centre opened in two phases in June and December 1986, and 90% of its office space was occupied upon opening. At the time of its completion, ''The Business Times'' claimed that the complex's tower was the tallest in the world outside the United States. The building came under the control of the United Overseas Bank (UOB) upon their takeover of OUB in 2001, and was subsequently sold to Lippo Group in 2005 as part of Overseas Union Enterprises (OUE). In June 2008, the building's retail podium was redeveloped to make way for a second office tower, which opened in September 2012, and was rebranded as One Raffles Place. The refurbished podium subsequently reopened in May 2014.


Design

Design work for the OUB Centre was carried out by Kenzo Tange and SAA Architects. As initially built, the OUB Centre comprised a podium block and an office block. The podium block consisted of six levels of retail space and five levels of offices, and had an underground connection to
Raffles Place MRT station Raffles Place MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) interchange station on the North–South Line (NSL) and East–West Line (EWL) in Singapore. Located in the Downtown Core, the station is underneath Raffles Place south of ...
. Comprising a steel frame, and reinforced concrete shear walls, the 60-storey office block had a height of , and contained of office space. The complex's second tower, One Raffles Place Tower Two, was designed by Paul Noritake Tange. The 38-storey tower houses of offices, and is designed to be environmentally friendly, with fittings such as solar panels and rainwater collection systems. The tower was awarded the
Building and Construction Authority The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) is a statutory board under the Ministry of National Development of the Government of Singapore. It was established on 1 April 1999 through the merger of the Construction Industry Development Board ...
Green Mark Platinum certification for its environmentally friendly design.


History


Planning

Plans for the redevelopment of the Overseas Union Bank's (OUB) headquarters in Raffles Place were first drawn up in the late 1970s. As part of the redevelopment scheme, in October 1979, OUB temporarily shifted its headquarters to a new purpose-built building along Boon Tat Street. In June 1980, OUB, together with Overseas Union Enterprises, incorporated OUB Centre Ltd to carry out the development of its new headquarters. OUB also purchased the plot once occupied by the Robinsons department store from the
Urban Redevelopment Authority The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is the national urban planning authority of Singapore, and a Statutory boards of the Singapore Government, statutory board under the Ministry of National Development (Singapore), Ministry of National De ...
(URA) in the same year for the new development.


Construction

Work on the building commenced in April 1981. The presence of many large boulders in the soil at the site made it necessary for the contractor to use the most technologically advanced excavation equipment, and bored piles were used for the building's foundation to minimise the impact on nearby buildings. In addition, with the site located at the busy Raffles Place, excavated earth could only be cleared at night. Temporary piling work concluded in March 1983, and the building's foundations were completed by October 1983, followed by the development's underground portion in November 1984. The tender for the construction of the building's superstructure received ten bids, five of which were shortlisted, and it was awarded for to a consortium comprising
Kajima is one of the oldest and largest construction companies in Japan. Founded in 1840, the company has its headquarters in Motoakasaka, Minato, Tokyo. The company is known for its DIB-200 proposal. The company stock is traded on four leading Japa ...
, Hazama-Gumi, and Japan Development and Construction in April 1984. Besides construction of the superstructure, the same consortium had built the building's foundation, while work on the building's basements was contracted to Ssangyong for . Construction of the main building commenced in October 1984, and was expected to take 14 months to complete. In order to finance the building's construction, OUB Centre Ltd took of loans from ten banks in March 1986. The OUB Centre's podium block and the first 12 floors of the tower were completed by June 1986. OUB moved in on 10 November 1986, while the rest of the tower block was opened in December 1986. By April 1987, 90% of the office space in the building was occupied, mostly by banks and money brokers. 20% of the office space was used as OUB's headquarters, while the
Stock Exchange of Singapore The Stock Exchange of Singapore (SES) was a stock exchange company in Singapore. It was formed in 1973, when the termination of currency interchangeability between Malaysia and Singapore, caused the Stock Exchange of Malaysia and Singapore (SEMS) ...
(SES) occupied an additional five floors. Nevertheless, the takeup for the building's retail space was not as good, with only 41 of 78 retail units occupied. Having cost to build, the OUB Centre was officially opened by then-Prime Minister of Singapore Mr
Lee Kuan Yew Lee Kuan Yew (born Harry Lee Kuan Yew; 16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015), often referred to by his initials LKY, was a Singaporean politician who ruled as the first Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990. He is widely recognised ...
on 8 August 1988. At the time of its opening, '' The Business Times'' claimed that the tower, which had a height of , was the tallest one outside the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
.


The 1980s, 1990s and 2000s

In January 1989, the Singapore International Monetary Exchange (Simex) announced that it would be moving to OUB Centre from the World Trade Centre, and that it would take over SES's trading floor in the building. Simex moved its administrative office into the OUB Centre in July 1989, and it took over the trading floor in September. Frenchman Alain Robert, well known for climbing
skyscrapers A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...
, aborted an attempted climb on this building on 3 November 2000. After reaching the 21st floor, the police dissuaded Robert's ascent, and he re-entered the building through a window on the 23rd floor. He was detained by the Singapore police who treated his stunt as criminal trespass. In 2001, the
Singapore Exchange Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX Group) is a Singapore-based exchange conglomerate, operating Equity (finance), equity, fixed income, currency and commodity markets. It provides a range of listing, trading, clearing, settlement, depository and ...
moved most of its operations to Unity Towers, with only the
open outcry Open outcry is a method of communication between professionals on a stock exchange or futures exchange, typically on a trading floor. It involves shouting and the use of Hand signaling (stock market), hand signals to transfer information pri ...
trading pit remaining in OUB Centre. The trading pits were subsequently closed in 2006 when their lease ran out. With the takeover of OUB by the
United Overseas Bank United Overseas Bank Limited (), often known as UOB, is a Singaporean regional bank headquartered at Raffles Place, Singapore, with branches mostly found in Southeast Asia countries. It is one of the three "big local banks" in the country, t ...
(UOB) in 2001, ownership of the building was transferred to UOB, as part of Overseas Union Enterprises (OUE). In May 2006, UOB sold the building, along with several other properties, to
Lippo Group Lippo Group is an Indonesian multinational conglomerate company. The company operates internationally providing property development and management services. It was founded by Mochtar Riady. Lippo has a collective presence across Asia and No ...
as part of an effort to divest its non-financial holdings in order to comply with Singapore government regulations.


The 2010s and 2020s

In June 2008, OUE started redevelopment of OUB Centre's retail podium to make way for a second office tower, and set aside for its development. In November 2008, OUE announced that OUB Centre, along with the new tower, would be branded as a single development called One Raffles Place. The new tower was officially opened by then-Deputy Prime Minister
Tharman Shanmugaratnam Tharman Shanmugaratnam (born 25 February 1957) is a Singaporean politician and economist who has been the current and ninth President of Singapore since 2023. Prior to his presidency, Tharman served as Senior Minister of Singapore between ...
on 18 September 2012. Besides the second tower, the complex's retail podium underwent a significant renovation, which included the replacement of its facade, and re-opened on 29 May 2014. With six levels, and of retail space, the podium had a 90% take-up rate at the time of its re-opening. Nevertheless, by May 2017, One Raffles Place's retail areas were faring poorly, with many of the larger tenants moving out, and other tenants planning to move out after their lease ended. This performance was, according to ''The Straits Times'', attributed to office workers in the Central Business District only shopping there at specific times of day. In spite of this, several food establishments, including a
food court A food court (in Asia-Pacific also called food hall or hawker centre) is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food Vendor, vendors and provides a common area for self-serve di ...
, opened at the podium during this period. In addition, OUE Commercial Reit carried out further renovations at the retail podium in 2018, in a bid to improve the shopping experience there.


See also

*
List of tallest buildings in Singapore Singapore is a highly urbanised country with over 10,000 completed Tower block, high-rises, the majority of which are located in the Downtown Core, its central business district (CBD). In the CBD, there are over 100 skyscrapers. The Guoco Tower ...
*
List of tallest freestanding steel structures This is a list of tallest freestanding steel structures in the world past and present. To be a freestanding steel structure it must not be supported by guy wires, the list therefore does not include guyed masts and the main vertical and lateral str ...
*
List of buildings This is a list of list of buildings and nonbuilding structures. By type * List of abbeys and priories * List of amphitheatres (contemporary) * List of amphitheatres (Roman) * List of ancient Greek theatres * List of ancient pyramids * ...


References


External links


Official website
{{Singapore malls Raffles Place Skyscraper office buildings in Singapore Shopping malls in Singapore Office buildings completed in 1986 Downtown Core (Singapore) 20th-century architecture in Singapore Kenzo Tange buildings